THE   MUSEUM 


THE  MUSEUM 

A  Manual  of  the  Housing  and  Care  of 
Art  Collections 


BY 

MARGARET  TALBOT  JACKSON 

/I 


LONGMANS,    GREEN    AND    CO 

FOURTH  AVENUE  &  30™  STREET,  NEW  YORK 

39    PATERNOSTER    ROW,    LONDON 

BOMBAY,   CALCUTTA,  AND  MADRAS 

1917 


13 


COPYRIGHT,  1917,  BY 
LONGMANS,  GREEN  AND  CO. 


PREFACE 

THE  object  of  this  little  book  is  to  put  before 
those  interested  in  the  administration  of 
collections  the  result  of  several  years  of 
study  of  the  museums  of  Europe  and  America.   It 
cannot  claim  the  distinction  of  bringing  new  ideas 
to  a  field  where  so  many  men  of  genius  have  long 
been  working;  it  can  only  hope  to  call  attention  to 
the  results  of  the  constant  experiments  being  made 
by  those  already  in  the  field. 

The  author  is  under  deep  obligations  to  the 
many  museum  directors  who  have  generously 
given  their  counsel  and  the  results  of  their  ex- 
perience. Especial  thanks  are  due  to  Professor 
Adolfo  Venturi,  Dr.  J.  B.  Carter  and  the  Ameri- 
can Academy  in  Rome,  His  Excellency  Dr.  Bode, 
Dr.  Karl  Koetschau,  Dr.  Camille  Enlart  and  Dr. 
Edward  Robinson. 

CAMBRIDGE,  January,  1917. 


385027 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  THE  SITUATION  OF  THE  MUSEUM  BUILD- 
ING   3 

II.  THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN 13 

ENTRANCES 15 

STAIRCASES 20 

CORRIDORS 23 

GALLERIES 26 

LIGHT 29 

CEILINGS  AND  SKYLIGHTS 37 

OFFICES  OF  THE   STAFF,  LIBRARY  AND 

LECTURE  ROOMS 41 

WORKSHOPS  AND  STORE  ROOMS 47 

FIRE  RISK,  RESTAURANT 51 

DETAILS  OFTEN  OVERLOOKED 55 

HEAT  AND  VENTILATION 61 

How  MAY  DEFECTS  IN  EXISTING  BUILD- 
INGS BE  REMEDIED? 68 

III.  PREPARATION  FOR  THE  COLLECTIONS 

INTERIOR  DECORATION 73 

TEXTILES 75 

COLOR 80 

OTHER  BACKGROUNDS 88 

FLOORS 89 

TRIM 95 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

GALLERY  FURNITURE 96 

GLASS 99 

VELARIA 101 

IV.  THE  FORMATION  OF  COLLECTIONS 103 

V.  THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS  FOR  EX- 
HIBITION 

PAINTINGS in 

Framing 118 

Hanging 121 

Labelling 126 

MINOR  ARTS 129 

Textiles 131 

Wooden  Objects 140 

Ironwork 143 

Bronzes 145 

Tin 146 

Silver 146 

Museum  Cases 146 

Labelling 1 54 

SCULPTURE 156 

CASTS 160 

Patinating 166 

Mounting 169 

Labelling 171 

PRINTS 173 

Exhibiting 178 

Storing 180 


CONTENTS  ix 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

ARCHEOLOGY 183 

SAFETY  DEVICES 186 

VI.   OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS 

HOURS  OF  OPENING 189 

ADMISSION  FEES 192 

MUSEUM  STAFF 195 

CLEANING  AND  AVOIDANCE  OF  DUST...  215 
RULES    FOR    COPYISTS    AND    PHOTOG- 
RAPHERS    217 

MUSEUM  PUBLICATIONS 220 

RECORDS 224 

ADVERTISING 236 

APPENDIX 

BLANKS  FOR  LOANS,  GIFTS,  PURCHASES  .  243 

BY-LAWS 253 

LIST  OF  MUSEUMS  VISITED 271 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

CURTAINING  OF  WINDOWS  AND  CHAIRS  FOR 
PUBLIC.  OPERA  DEL  DUOMO,  FLORENCE, 
ITALY Frontispiece 

A  MUSEUM  ALL  ON  ONE  FLOOR,  THE  GLYPTO- 

THEK,  MUNICH,  GERMANY.  . .  Facing  page    20 

BAVARIAN    NATIONAL    MUSEUM,    MUNICH, 

GERMANY 54 

NOTE  THE  EXCESSIVE  GLARE  AND  THE  RE- 
FLECTIONS IN  THE  MARBLE,  GLYPTO- 
THEK,  COPENHAGEN,  DENMARK 90 

A  SUCCESSFUL  "  PERIOD  "  ROOM  IN  AMERICA. 
COLONIAL  KITCHEN,  OAKLAND  PUBLIC 
MUSEUM,  OAKLAND,  CALIFORNIA 108 

HEAVY  AND  UNSUCCESSFUL  CASES  DESIGNED 
IN  A  "  PERIOD,"  BAVARIAN  NATIONAL 
MUSEUM,  MUNICH,  GERMANY 150 

RARELY  SUCCESSFUL  CASE  DESIGNED  FOR  A 
RICHLY  DECORATED  ROOM,  BAVARIAN 
NATIONAL  MUSEUM,  MUNICH,  GERMANY  152 


|USEUM 


THE  MUSEUM 
CHAPTER  I 

THE  SITUATION  OF  THE  MUSEUM  BUILDING 

THE  first  problem  to  be  considered  by  a 
Board  of  Trustees  about  to  found  a  new 
museum  is  the  choice  of  the  location. 
Sometimes  this  is  already  decided  for  them:  a 
gift  of  land  is  made  and  it  is  necessary  for  the 
building  to  be  placed  upon  that  land.  If,  however, 
the  trustees  are  free  to  make  their  own  choice, 
what  are  the  questions  that  should  be  answered 
before  a  lot  can  be  considered  desirable?  The 
first  of  these  is  whether  a  museum  should  be  re- 
garded as  an  institution  for  the  education  of  the 
masses,  or  whether  it  should  serve  as  a  centre  for 
study  for  specialists,  or  both. 

Here  in  America  a  museum  is  regarded  as  a 
part  of  the  educational  system,  and  the  great  con- 
tribution that  we  have  made  to  the  development 
of  museum  science  has  been  the  addition  to  the 
duties  of  the  museum  official  of  the  important 


«  THE  MUSEUM 

work  of  teaching  Art,  not  only  to  those  who  know 
they  are  interested,  but  to  the  school  children  and 
others  who  may  be  induced  to  take  an  interest. 
If,  then,  the  museum  is  to  fulfil  its  greatest  func- 
tion, in  bringing  its  treasures  into  the  lives  of  all 
the  people,  the  first  and  most  important  considera- 
tion in  choosing  a  site  is,  how  easily  will  it  be 
accessible  to  the  majority  of  people  who  will  visit 
the  museum?  In  certain  unfortunate  cases  it  has 
been  deemed  wise  or  expedient  to  choose  a  posi- 
tion far  from  the  centre.  Let  us  consider,  for  a 
moment,  the  Boston  Museum.  When  the  old 
building  in  Copley  Square  was  put  up,  a  plot  of 
ground  considered  sufficient  for  an  indefinite 
growth  was  bought.  With  streets  on  either  side 
and  in  front,  it  was  hoped  that  the  museum  would 
be  safe.  With  the  rapid  growth  of  the  city  the 
situation  became  more  and  more  intolerable.  It 
was  accessible;  yes,  too  accessible.  The  street 
cars,  which  passed  the  front  door,  and  the  trains, 
which  stopped  at  the  station  almost  immediately 
behind  the  Museum,  brought  not  only  vibration, 
but  dust,  which  it  was  impossible  to  combat.  Then, 
again,  the  changing  character  of  Copley  Square 
made  the  danger  from  fire  such  that  the  situation 
was  no  longer  considered  safe.  Land  values  in 
the  meantime  had  increased  so  much  that  by  sell- 
ing their  holdings  in  that  place  and  buying  in  a  less 


THE  SITUATION  OF  THE  BUILDING      5 

expensive  locality  the  Trustees  were  able  to  con- 
trol a  much  larger  area.  Thus  there  were  many 
extenuating  circumstances  which  excused  the  move 
to  the  Fenway,  but  in  spite  of  the  new  building, 
the  increased  facilities,  and  the  interest  already 
aroused  among  the  people,  the  attendance  fell  off 
to  such  an  extent  that  it  was  deemed  necessary  to 
offer,  for  a  time,  inducements  to  visitors.  On  cer- 
tain days  special  through  cars  were  run  from  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  city  to  bring  to  the  new  site 
people  who  had  formerly  been  able  easily  to  reach 
the  Museum. 

In  New  York  the  situation  chosen  for  the  Met- 
ropolitan Museum  was  at  a  great  distance  from  the 
centre,  but  such  are  the  peculiar  conditions  in  that 
city  that  growth  must  be  in  the  direction  of  the 
Museum  and  not  from  it.  The  question  of  com- 
munication is  here  even  more  complicated  than  in 
Boston,  and  yet  the  very  fact  that  there  will  un- 
doubtedly never  be  a  street-car  line  going  directly 
past  the  Museum  is  in  itself  an  advantage,  be- 
cause the  dangers  from  vibration  are  thus  re- 
moved. With  the  millions  of  inhabitants  and  visi- 
tors in  New  York  the  Metropolitan  can  register  a 
large  attendance  though  it  is  not  accessible,  but  this 
is  not  true  in  smaller  cities,  and  the  question  of  how 
far  it  is  right  to  sacrifice  safety  in  order  to  put  the 
building  where  it  can  most  easily  be  reached  by 


6  THE  MUSEUM 

the  people  is  a  very  serious  one.  In  Chicago,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  Art  Institute  is  located  in  the 
centre  of  the  down-town  district  and  while  it  is 
most  unfortunately  placed  in  relation  to  the  rail- 
road which  passes  the  rear,  it  is  at  the  same  time 
so  accessible  that  the  number  of  its  visitors  is 
extraordinary. 

Let  us  consider  for  a  moment  the  European 
museums  from  this  aspect.  In  Berlin,  where  there 
is  a  large  group  of  Art  museums,  all  the  more  im- 
portant ones,  with  one  exception,  are  grouped  on 
the  so-called  Museum  Island,  in  the  heart  of  the 
city.  The  street  cars  and  railroads  pass  so  close 
to  the  museums  that  the  dust  and  vibration  which 
they  cause  are  serious.  In  Paris,  the  chief  collec- 
tions have  been  brought  together  in  the  old  royal 
palace  of  the  Louvre,  situated  in  the  heart  of  the 
city,  and  although  street  cars  pass  along  one  side 
the  traffic  is  not  so  heavy  as  to  cause  vibration, 
though  there  is  much  noise  and  dust.  Accessibility 
is  assured  by  the  innumerable  lines  of  motor  buses 
which  pass  the  museum  on  all  sides,  as  well  as  by 
the  underground,  which  has  a  special  stop  at  that 
point.  In  London  the  case  is  somewhat  different. 
There,  although  the  British  Museum  is  in  the 
heart  of  the  city,  there  are  no  street-car  lines  which 
come  nearer  to  it  than  one  block  away.  The 
enormous  number  of  people  who  visit  this  museum 


THE  SITUATION  OF  THE  BUILDING      7 

may  be  compared  with  some  interest  with  the  com- 
paratively small  number  of  those  who  visit  the 
South  Kensington  Museum,  which  containing,  as 
it  does,  collections  of  decorative  arts,  should  have 
an  equal  popular  appeal  with  the  archaeological 
and  scientific  material  in  the  British  Museum.  This 
is  just  a  case  to  illustrate  the  point.  The  people 
will  go  to  the  museum  that  they  can  reach  with  the 
least  effort,  irrespective  of  what  it  contains.  From 
all  these  examples  it  will  be  seen  that  the  ideal 
situation  for  a  museum  building  is  in  a  central  lo- 
cation one  block  away  from  street-car  lines  and 
several  blocks  removed  from  the  railroad.  A 
strong  argument  in  favor  of  centralization  of 
museums  has  been  presented  by  J.  C.  Dana  in  his 
article  on  the  Gloom  of  Museums  in  the  Newarker 
for  October,  1913,  page  396. 

Another  important  consideration  is  the  cost  of 
the  land.  If  the  museum  is  to  be  in  the  heart  of 
the  city  the  site  will  cost  more  in  proportion  to  its 
size.  With  the  rapid  development  of  our  Amer- 
ican cities  it  is  quite  impossible  for  any  one  to  fore- 
cast the  direction  of  the  growth,  but  care  should  be 
taken  to  choose  a  site  which  in  all  probability  will 
not  decrease  in  value,  as  circumstances  might  arise 
which  would  make  it  necessary  for  the  museum  to 
move  and  for  this  reason  to  desire  to  sell  its 
former  site. 


8  THE  MUSEUM 

The  ownership  of  neighboring  lots  is  another 
vital  question.  The  erection  of  a  factory  near  the 
museum  may  be  a  dangerous  menace  to  the  safety 
of  its  contents.  Smoke,  soot  and  dust  are  among 
the  greatest  dangers  we  have  to  face  in  the  preser- 
vation of  works  of  art.  A  large  department  store 
or  even  an  office  building  as  a  neighbor  cannot 
fail  to  bring  some  fire  danger.  Unfortunately  it 
has  not  yet  been  possible  to  find  a  means  of  ren- 
dering our  buildings  thoroughly  fire-proof.  Even 
with  all  modern  devices  the  risk  is  great,  and 
there  is  hardly  a  building  that  would  not  prove  a 
serious  menace  to  its  neighbors  should  a  fire  once 
gain  headway.  If  a  museum  building  is  to  be 
placed  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  therefore,  there 
must  be  not  only  the  usual  provision  for  a  legiti- 
mate growth,  but  some  surplus  to  guard  against 
undesirable  neighbors. 

As  regards  growth,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the 
museums  of  the  future  are  going  to  be  very  dif- 
ferent from  the  museums  of  the  past,  and  that  we 
shall  learn  that  economy  in  running  a  large  plant 
is  not  the  only  consideration.  Such  monstrosities 
as  the  Louvre  in  Paris,  the  South  Kensington 
in  London,  and  the  Metropolitan  in  New  York, 
will  no  longer  be  possible,  but  their  place  will  be 
taken  by  museums  of  moderate  size,  devoted  not 
to  all  art  from  earliest  times  to  the  present  day, 


THE  SITUATION  OF  THE  BUILDING      9 

but  to  different  periods  or  classes  of  material,  and 
we  shall  then  have  museums  dotted  about  in  the 
different  quarters  of  the  city  where  they  will  reach 
a  larger  number  of  people  and  where  one  can 
spend,  in  intimate  association  with  a  series  of  ob- 
jects, a  number  of  hours  without  that  overwhelm- 
ing sense  of  fatigue  that  comes  to  the  weary  visitor 
who  knows  that  although  he  is  now  in  gallery  num- 
ber 22,  there  are  fifty-seven  that  he  has  not  seen, 
and  through  which  he  possibly  may  have  to  pass 
before  emerging  from  the  building.  It  is  very 
much  more  interesting  to  go  to  ten  different  places 
than  it  is  to  go  to  the  same  place  ten  times. 

One  other  matter  should  be  considered  in  choos- 
ing a  lot,  and  that  is  the  quality  of  the  ground.  As 
a  concrete  example  let  us  see  what  happened  in 
Berlin.  So  many  mistakes  have  probably  never 
been  made  elsewhere  in  this  respect,  and  yet,  Ger- 
many has  at  this  present  time  developed  museum 
work  to  the  position  of  an  exact  science.  It  seems 
as  though  in  these  days  it  would  hardly  be  pos- 
sible anywhere  for  a  piece  of  ground  situated  at 
the  end  of  an  island,  between  two  streams  which 
are  constantly  used  by  canal  boats,  to  be  chosen  as 
the  site  for  a  museum,  especially  a  museum  of  such 
importance  as  the  Kaiser  Friedrich.  In  the  first 
place  the  ground  is  not  capable  of  supporting  so 
large  a  structure,  and  the  expense  of  building 


io  THE  MUSEUM 

piers  is  almost  as  great  as  it  would  be  were  the 
building  located  in  mid-stream.  Again,  the  smoke 
from  the  engines  of  the  canal  boats  makes  on 
some  days  so  dense  a  cloud  that  the  windows  of 
the  muse'um  are  darkened  by  it,  while  the  presence 
of  the  water  elicits  the  complaint  from  the  engi- 
neer in  charge  of  the  ventilating  apparatus  that  he 
is  unable  adequately  to  control  the  humidity  be- 
cause of  the  amount  of  water  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  museum !  But  this  is  not  the  worst 
evil.  Permission  was  granted  to  build,  directly 
behind  the  museum,  the  elevated  tracks  which  were 
to  carry  express  trains  from  Petrograd  to  Paris 
through  the  city  instead  of  around  it.  On  these 
same  tracks  run  suburban  trains  at  frequent  inter- 
vals. This  means  that  several  times  a  day  enor- 
mously heavy  trains  with  many  cars  go  jolting  by, 
and  every  five  minutes  a  suburban  train,  puffing 
volumes  of  smoke,  pants  on  its  way.  The  vibra- 
tion from  this  road  has  caused  such  cracks  in  the 
walls  of  the  museum  that  in  a  desperate  effort  to 
remedy  matters  many  thousands  of  dollars  were 
spent  in  digging  a  trench  ten  metres  deep  and  ten 
metres  broad.  In  this  trench  concrete  retaining 
walls  were  built  and  the  middle  space  was  filled 
with  rough  stone  loosely  put  in  to  interrupt  the 
vibratory  waves.  One  would  have  thought  that 
when  everyone  recognized  that  such  a  mistake  had 


THE  SITUATION  OF  THE  BUILDING     11 

been  made  in  the  case  of  this  museum  that  in  Ber- 
lin, at  least,  no  other  museum  would  be  subjected 
to  a  similar  fate.    Unfortunately,  however,  an  old 
decree  made  by  the  grandfather  of  the  present 
Emperor  called  for  the  building  of  all  museums  on 
the  so-called  Museum  Island.     When,  therefore, 
money  was  given   for  the  building  of  the   new 
German,  Oriental  and  Pergamon  Museums,  there 
was  no  question  in  the  mind  of  any  one  where  they 
would  be  placed.     The  expense  of  building  the 
foundations  in  the  soft  soil  was  cheerfully  met 
and,  though  it  seemed  a  criminal  waste  to  put  so 
much  money  below  ground,  all  would  have  been 
well  had  they  not  stumbled  upon  a  place  where,  in 
spite  of  boring  to  great  depths,  they  were  unable 
to  find  solid  bottom.     This  proved  to  be  a  glacial 
pocket,  small  on  top  and  broad  beneath,  which 
had  to  be  cleared  out  and  filled  in  before  the  work 
could  proceed.     In  the  process  of  excavating,  so 
much  water  had  to  be  pumped  out  that  the  neigh- 
boring Neues  Museum  began  to  show  signs  of 
weakness.     For  about  twenty-four  hours  it  was  in 
imminent  danger  of  collapse  and  only  immediate 
stoppage   of  all  work  and  great  precautions  to. 
relieve  the  strain  prevented  the  subsidence  of  the 
whole  building.     After  wasting  two  years  of  time 
and  about  a  half-million  dollars  on  this  one  bad 
place  in  the  earth,  the  hole  was  filled  up  with  con- 


12  THE  MUSEUM 

crete  to  a  depth  of  sixty  metres,  or  more  than  one 
hundred  and  eighty  feet.  >  That  the  extent  of  the 
damage  wrought  in  the  Neues  Museum  is  not  yet 
known  we  may  be  sure.  The  building  is  erected  on 
wooden  piles  which  have  stood  in  water  until  this 
unfortunate  affair  necessitated  the  pumping  out 
of  the  ground  water  from  that  vicinity.  How 
much  damage  had  the  air  done  to  those  piles  before 
the  water  was  allowed  to  flow  back  again?  This 
is  the  question  that  is  now  occupying  the  engineers. 
To  sum  up :  in  selecting  the  site  for  a  new 
museum  building  the  following  matters  must  be 
considered.  First,  the  situation  should  be  as  near 
the  civic  centre  as  possible  or  at  least  thoroughly 
accessible  from  all  parts  of  the  city.  Second,  if 
outside  the  centre,  it  should  be  on  the  side  of  prob- 
able future  development.  Third,  the  lot  must  be 
large  enough  to  allow  for  growth  as  well  as  to 
protect  the  museum  from  undesirable  neighbors. 
Fourth,  it  must  be  of  such  a  character  that  the 
expense  of  building  foundations  and  the  main- 
tenance costs  when  built  will  not  be  excessive. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN 

UNTIL  our  American  Trustees  realize  that 
the  architect  is  not  an  omniscient  being, 
blunders  are  going  to  be  made  in  our 
museums.  So  far,  few  architects  have  specialized 
in  museum  buildings  and  the  subject  is  so  vast  that 
it  cannot  be  mastered  offhand.  It  is  the  part  of 
the  museum  specialist,  the  director,  to  guide  the 
architect  in  the  development  of  the  plans.  Amer- 
ican museums  are  at  a  disadvantage  because  the 
exact  line  of  their  growth  cannot  be  forecasted, 
but  the  only  way  by  which  a  museum  can  be 
thoroughly  consistent  and  adapted  to  its  uses,  is 
by  having  an  understanding  first  of  exactly  what 
those  uses  are  to  be!  To  meet  this  difficulty  the 
Director  should  study  the  conditions,  and  con- 
sult with  the  Trustees  in  regard  to  the  possibilities 
in  the  city  in  which  the  museum  is  located.  There- 
fore, the  first  step  in  planning  a  new  museum  is 
not  to  open  a  competition  for  the  design  of  the 
building,  but  to  choose  a  Director.  Who  the 
architect  is,  matters  very  little  after  that,  pro- 
vided both  he  and  the  Director  understand  their 

13 


i4  THE  MUSEUM 

business.  The  Historical  Museum  in  Hamburg 
has  recently  begun  a  new  building  on  the  plans  of 
which  the  Director  and  architect  had  worked  for 
three  consecutive  years  before  a  single  stone  was 
laid.  The  consequence  is,  that  the  plan  is  as  nearly 
perfect  as  one  can  hope  to  find  in  this  present  day. 
Whether  in  this  country  we  should  have  the  pa- 
tience to  spend  three  years  on  plans  or  not  is  a 
question,  but  time  should  be  allowed  for  the  Direc- 
tor and  building  committee  to  see  that  the  plan 
is  complete  in  all  its  details  and  to  make  changes 
and  revisions. 

Turning  now  to  a  consideration  of  the  separate 
points,  we  find  that  the  exterior  may  safely  be  left 
to  the  architect,  but  only  after  the  interior  has  been 
carefully  planned  out.  In  the  building  of  the 
Rautenstrauch-Joerst  Museum  in  Cologne  [Foy, 
Dr.  W.,  Ethnologia,  Stadtischen  Rautenstrauch- 
Joerst  Museum,  Coin;  Leipzig,  1909.  Museums 
Journal,  vol.  VI,  p.  408,  discussion  of  Dr.  A.  B. 
Meyers'  paper  on  Museum  Cases]  the  type  of 
cases  which  would  best  display  the  objects  was 
first  considered,  then  the  kind  of  light  and  size 
of  room  that  would  be  most  effective,  and  finally 
the  exterior  which  would  fit  this  interior.  It 
matters  little  what  style  is  adopted,  provided 
that  it  does  not  interfere  with  the  needs  of  the  in- 
terior. The  material  of  which  the  museum  is 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  15 

built  will  depend  largely  on  the  amount  of  money 
at  the  disposal  of  the  committee,  but  it  must  al- 
ways be  borne  in  mind  that  a  third  must  be  added 
to  the  contractor's  price  to  cover  possible  changes 
and  mistakes  in  estimates,  and  that  the  cost  of 
proper  installation  is  very  high.  It  would  be 
perfectly  possible  to  build  a  museum  of  concrete 
or  brick  that  would  be  better  adapted  to  the  col- 
lections than  the  usual  marble  structure  and  the 
saving  in  expense  would  be  sufficient  to  insure  ade- 
quate equipment  for  carrying  on  the  work  of  the 
institution.  This  is  a  point  too  often  neglected. 
Having  spent  several  hundred  thousand  dollars 
on  the  shell,  the  Trustees  find  themselves  unable 
to  provide  funds  for  the  expensive  installation 
which  is  needed  by  most  art  objects. 

The  museum  Director  working  with  the  archi- 
tect must  consider  the  following  points: 

ENTRANCES 

In  general  it  may  be  said  that  the  fewer  the 
public  entrances  the  better,  in  order  to  control 
both  the  number  of  people  who  go  in  and  the  num- 
ber of  people  who  go  out  of  the  museum.  Two 
or  more  entrances  have  proved  rather  confusing, 
especially  where  umbrellas,  walking  sticks,  etc., 
are  checked  at  one  entrance  and  the  visitor  leaves 
by  another.  Museum  attendants  complain  of  hav- 


16  THE  MUSEUM 

ing  umbrellas  left  from  one  rainstorm  to  the  next 
by  people  who  have  entirely  forgotten  that  they 
had  an  umbrella  with  them  on  entering  the  build- 
ing. This,  of  course,  is  rather  a  minor  matter,  but 
the  facility  in  controlling  the  exit  in  case  of  a  theft 
is  much  greater  where  there  is  but  one  entrance. 
Every  additional  public  entrance  also  increases 
the  cost  of  service.  This  does  not  mean,  however, 
that  there  should  not  be  other  entrances  in  the 
building.  Indeed,  a  most  important  and  often 
forgotten  detail  is  the  provision  for  the  entrance 
into  the  museum  of  large  objects  of  art.  Many  an 
architect  seems  to  feel  that  objects  grow  in  the 
museum  and  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  provide  a 
special  door  for  them  to  come  in.  Not  only  should 
there  be  some  entrance,  but  that  entrance  should 
be  large  enough  to  admit  even  a  crated  statue  of 
heroic  size.  Moreover,  it  should  be  arranged  with 
a  driveway  and  an  unloading  platform  at  the 
height  of  the  ordinary  truck  and  preferably  also 
on  a  level  with  the  floor  of  the  receiving  room. 
It  is  very  necessary  that  where  there  is  a  lecture 
room  in  the  museum  there  should  be  a  special 
entrance  which  will  admit  people  who  go  to  the 
lecture  without  obliging  them  to  pass  through  the 
exhibition  rooms.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  pub- 
lic gains  something  from  passing  through  exhibi- 
tion galleries  in  this  way,  and  where  the  museum 


CMFER.QR    FREDERICK    MUSEUM 


Italian  F^±tttia*«  k  Sculptures 


Upper    Floor 


Spree 


•'f • 


Ground    Floor 


i8  THE  MUSEUM 

is  small  and  arranged  for  this  contingency  it  may 
be  permissible  to  expect  to  make  one  entrance  serve 
both  museum  and  lecture  room.  It  must  be  borne 
in  mind,  however,  that  there  are  many  occasions 
when  it  is  advisable  to  use  the  lecture  room  at 
night,  and  if  a  separate  entrance  is  provided,  even 
if  it  is  not  always  used,  it  is  possible  to  do  this 
without  the  expense  of  lighting  and  guarding  the 
whole  museum.  A  fourth  entrance,  which  may 
have  some  connection  with  the  last  mentioned, 
should  give  access  to  the  rooms  of  the  staff.  It 
should  never  be  necessary  for  objects  which  are 
brought  for  the  staff  to  examine  to  pass  through 
the  exhibition  rooms.  Even  with  every  precaution 
in  the  way  of  checks  it  might  be  possible  for  a 
worthless  object  to  be  taken  out  of  a  checked  bun- 
dle and  some  interesting  and  easily  portable 
museum  piece  substituted.  Again,  on  pay  days, 
or  when  the  museum  is  closed  to  the  public,  if  there 
is  no  separate  entrance  to  the  rooms  of  the  staff, 
it  is  necessary  to  admit  free  every  person  who 
says  he  wishes  to  speak  to  the  Director,  and  then 
to  provide  him  with  an  escort  to  see  that  he  does 
not  wander  about  the  museum  unattended.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  does  not  do  for  the  office  of  the 
staff  to  be  accessible  only  to  the  public.  It  must 
be  possible  to  have  direct  access  to  the  galleries 
and  exhibition  halls.  This  can  usually  be  ar- 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  19 

ranged  by  placing  the  offices  near  the  front  door 
in  such  a  way  that  a  door  leading  from  the  vesti- 
bule gives  direct  access  into  one  of  the  offices. 
The  rooms  then  open,  one  into  another,  with 
possibly  a  private  corridor,  and  this  in  turn  opens 
into  the  museum.  When  the  new  museum  build- 
ings in  Berlin  are  completed,  the  plan  of  the 
Kaiser  Friedrich  Museum  will  be  much  more  ra- 
tional in  this  respect.  At  present  the  only  entrance 
is  from  the  west  and  all  the  offices  of  the  staff  are 
in  the  east  end  of  the  building.  Later  it  is  planned 
to  make  accessible  the  doorway  in  the  east  end, 
which  at  present  is  blocked  by  the  construction  of 
the  new  building.  Thus  it  will  not  be  necessary 
for  the  public  to  pass  through  the  museum,  al- 
though it  would  be  more  convenient  to  do  so. 
The  National  Museum  in  Munich  has  a  large 
tower  at  the  entrance  and  from  the  vestibule  a 
special  staircase  leads  to  the  Director's  rooms. 
In  this  tower  also  are  the  library  and  a  smoking 
room  for  the  use  of  the  staff.  The  grand  stair- 
case separates  this  tower  from  the  main  building. 
In  this  way  the  danger  of  fire,  incident  to  the 
work  of  an  office  is  removed  from  the  museum 
building,  and  yet  there  is  a  ready  means  of  access 
from  each  of  the  offices  into  all  parts  of  the  build- 
ing. 

If  the  plans  for  the  new  Historical  Museum 


20  THE  MUSEUM 

in  Hamburg  are  ever  carried  out,  the  Director's 
offices  there  will  be  the  best  placed  of  any  museum 
visited.  The  arrangement  provides  for  a  vesti- 
bule from  which  the  public  enters  directly  into 
the  main  corridor  of  the  museum.  To  the  left  of 
the  vestibule  a  door  leads  to  the  Director's  offices 
and  to  the  right  to  the  lecture  hall.  Thus  it  is 
possible  for  visitors  to  be  admitted  at  once  to  the 
presence  of  the  Director  and  to  leave  again  with- 
out even  entering  the  main  corridor  of  the  build- 
ing, at  the  same  time  using  only  one  front  door. 
The  staff,  on  the  other  hand,  can  go  from  their 
office  into  the  museum  by  going  out  another  door 
which  opens  into  the  main  corridor. 

STAIRCASES 

Many  mistakes  are  made  in  providing  monu- 
mental staircases.  This  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the 
fact  that  our  American  museums  have  been  copied 
more  or  less  from  European  museums,  and  Euro- 
pean museums  have  been  largely  adaptations  of 
palaces  for  museum  purposes.  Thus,  for  instance, 
few  buildings  have  more  grand  staircases  than 
the  Louvre,  but  that  is  because  the  Louvre  was 
a  royal  palace  and  grand  staircases  were  intimately 
connected  with  the  needs  of  court  life.  There  is 
an  opportunity  for  the  ambitious  architect  in  the 
wonderful  chance  to  produce  an  imposing  archi- 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  21 

tectural  feature  in  these  staircases.  One  of  the 
worst  examples  of  this  fault  is  in  the  Kaiser 
Friedrich  Museum  in  Berlin.  As  we  have  said 
elsewhere,  the  museum  is  so  situated  that  it  can 
never  grow.  Under  the  circumstances  one  would 
expect  every  available  inch  of  space  to  be  used  for 
exhibition  purposes,  but,  alas,  two  enormous 
staircases,  one  at  either  end  of  the  building,  ab- 
sorb much  useful  exhibition  space.  Had  the  archi- 
tect been  willing  to  do  without  the  huge  structure 
in  the  front  of  the  building  he  would  have  gained 
a  large  amount  of  space.  The  large  staircase  at 
the  back  of  the  building  would  have  been  quite 
sufficient  for  all  ordinary  purposes,  especially  when 
it  is  remembered  that  there  are  in  addition  three 
service  staircases,  any  one  of  them  large  enough 
to  amply  take  care  of  a  good-sized  crowd  in  case 
of  fire  or  other  danger.  Two  elevators  add  to  the 
means  of  access  from  one  floor  to  another.  (See 
plan,  page  17.)  Many  officials  are  looking  toward 
the  future  for  a  type  of  museum  building  all  on  one 
floor,  which  shall  be  without  stairs  (cf.  the  Glypto- 
thek,  Munich) .  There  is  nothing  more  discourag- 
ing to  the  would-be  museum  visitor  than  to  arrive 
inside  the  door  and  find  himself  confronted  by  a 
seemingly  interminable  flight  of  stairs  which  must 
be  mounted  before  he  attains  his  object.  In  the 
Boston  Museum,  for  instance,  the  collections  on 


22  THE  MUSEUM 

the  ground  floor  are  for  study  and  the  visitor 
who  wishes  to  see  the  exhibition  collections  must 
climb  a  flight  of  glaring  white  steps.  How  much 
better  it  would  be  to  have  an  attractive  vista  of 
exhibition  rooms  opening  out  from  the  entrance 
hall  and  to  hide  the  stairs  somewhere  in  the  ends 
of  the  wings  where  they  need  not  be  either  costly 
or  very  large.  By  providing  an  elevator  for  the 
public  and  staircases  six  or  eight  feet  wide,  it 
would  be  possible  to  take  care  of  even  a  rather 
large  crowd.  [In  this  connection  let  it  be  noted 
that  there  is  an  art  in  building  stairs  of  the  right 
proportion.  The  measure  of  the  rise  and  tread 
of  the  stairs  in  the  Institute  of  Arts,  Minneapolis, 
is  the  most  perfect  so  far  as  the  author's  experience 
goes.]  Except  for  the  one  large  staircase  op- 
posite the  main  entrance  in  the  Metropolitan 
Museum,  the  wings  are  provided  with  staircases 
of  normal  size  which  are  neither  costly  to  build 
nor  tiresome  in  appearance.  Aside  from  all  this 
the  heating  of  a  building  which  has  huge  stairways 
is  always  difficult.  Elevators  for  the  public  are 
expensive.  There  must  be  licensed  operators  con- 
stantly in  attendance  and  liability  insurance  must 
be  carried.  But  if  such  an  elevator  is  not  provided 
there  must  be  some  means  of  taking  lame  persons 
or  invalids  over  the  stairs,  in  freight  elevators  if 
necessary. 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  23 

CORRIDORS 

There  is  hardly  a  more  pernicious  fault  in  a 
museum  building  than  the  provision  of  corridors 
which  are  so  wide  that  it  seems  a  waste  not  to  use 
them  for  exhibition  purposes  and  yet  which  are 
so  narrow  that  any  exhibits  crowd  oppressively 
upon  the  visitor.  In  this  respect  the  plan  of  the 
Bavarian  National  Museum  in  Munich  is  excellent. 
Here  one  passes  from  room  to  room  without  the 
intervention  of  corridors,  and  the  temptation  to 
go  on  and  see  just  a  little  more  is  enhanced  by  the 
variety  in  the  shape  of  the  rooms  and  by  the 
material  displayed.  On  the  other  hand  nothing 
is  so  wearisome  as  the  long  gallery  in  the  Louvre, 
where  one  passes  some  of  the  most  remarkable 
paintings  the  world  has  ever  known  but  is  too 
wearied  by  the  oppression  of  their  nearness  and 
the  interminable  length  of  the  space  that  must  be 
covered  to  be  able  to  enjoy  them.  Again,  take  for 
example  the  long  galleries  in  the  Vatican.  Who 
is  there  who  has  ever  visited  them  that  does  not 
recall  the  words  of  Hare,  who  describes  the 
Galleria  Lapidaria  as  being  2131  feet  long?  Cor- 
ridors should  provide  the  possibility  of  getting 
from  one  part  of  the  building  to  another  without 
traversing  a  long  series  of  rooms.  The  plan  of 
the  Kaiser  Friedrich  Museum  in  Berlin,  which  we 


24  THE  MUSEUM 

have  seen  to  be  so  poor  in  some  respects,  is  in 
this  respect  remarkably  good.  A  central  axis  is 
formed  by  the  small  exhibition  gallery  on  the 
ground  floor  and  by  the  great  basilica,  and  this 
in  turn  is  connected  with  the  side  rooms  by  two 
transitional  galleries,  large  enough  to  make  inter- 
esting exhibition  units,  and  so  placed  that  the 
material  they  contain  may  be  related  to  that  at 
either  one  side  or  the  other.  Again,  at  the  back 
of  the  building,  two  more  large  galleries  give  ac- 
cess to  the  rooms  on  either  side.  In  this  manner  it 
is  possible  to  pass  very  rapidly  from  the  entrance 
to  any  part  of  the  museum  without  going  through 
a  large  number  of  rooms  unnecessarily.  All  space 
is  valuable  for  exhibition  and  the  corridors  must 
take  their  place  with  the  other  rooms.  As  they  are 
difficult  units  to  arrange  they  should  be  subordi- 
nated where  possible,  and  especial  care  must  be 
taken  that  a  corridor  outside  a  gallery  does  not 
prove  a  disagreeable  feature  on  account  of  cross 
light  which  enters  through  the  doorways,  y  A  gal- 
lery may  have  the  function  of  a  corridor  and  is 
much  more  easily  arranged  and  cared  for  than  a 
regular  hallway.  Objection  has  been  raised  that 
in  the  museum  without  corridors  people  pass 
rapidly  through  room  after  room  without  stop- 
ping to  look  at  the  objects  in  the  room.  It  is  not 
possible  for  any  one  to  pass  through  a  room  in 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN 


26  THE  MUSEUM 

this  way  without  gaining  something.  The  objec- 
tion that  passers-by  interfere  with  those  who  wish 
to  remain  and  look  at  the  objects  is  hardly  valid. 
If  the  visitor  can  be  so  easily  disturbed  he  will 
gain  little  from  his  visit.  On  the  other  hand,  cor- 
ridors make  a  museum  doubly  hard  to  guard. 
Where  one  room  opens  into  another,  half  as  many 
guards  are  necessary  as  where  each  room  opens 
only  into  a  corridor,  for  if  it  is  possible  for  a  man 
to  stand  in  one  room  and  see  into  one  or  two 
other  rooms  he  can  do  his  duty  much  better  than 
where  he  has  to  go  to  the  door  of  a  room  in  order 
to  see  what  is  happening  within  it.  Some  sort  of 
access  must  be  provided,  but  the  clever  architect 
will  carefully  study  the  problem  of  corridor  space. 

GALLERIES 

The  tendency  nowadays  is  to  provide  a  series 
of  exhibition  rooms  where  only  the  finest  objects 
are  displayed  and  a  second  series  of  study  rooms, 
where  the  reserve  collection  is  kept.  Long  ex- 
perience, especially  with  archaeological  material, 
has  led  Museum  Directors  to  feel  that  a  quantity 
of  specimens  illustrating  any  one  class  of  objects 
failed  to  interest  the  public  and  that  it  is  only 
by  making  a  selection  that  they  are  able  to  appeal 
to  the  general  visitor.  It  is  often  hard  to  draw 
the  line  between  material  which  is  important  his- 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  27 

torically,  and  which  the  public  should  be  induced 
to  appreciate,  and  material  which  has  no  value 
except  to  the  special  student,  particularly  as  it  is 
usually  the  special  student  who  is  put  in  charge 
of  the  material.  If  one  is  to  make  a  distinction, 
perhaps  the  easiest  way  to  do  it  is  by  choosing  for 
the  public  collections  only  material  which  has 
some  artistic  importance  and  leaving  in  the  study 
series  the  replicas  or  less  perfect  specimens.  With 
certain  types  of  objects,  as  for  instance,  textiles, 
a  changing  exhibition  is  much  to  be  preferred  to 
the  customary  showing  of  all  the  pieces.  This 
can  easily  be  arranged  and  will  take  less  space  than 
if  all  pieces  are  exhibited.  (See  Chapter  V.) 

Starting  then  with  this  hypothesis,  what  are 
the  rules  in  regard  to  proportion  of  rooms  that 
must  be  considered?  This  is  perhaps  the  most 
difficult  point  of  all.  No  architect  has  yet  suc- 
ceeded in  laying  down  rules  which  would  always 
apply  in  regard  to  proportion,  and  much  depends 
upon  the  material  to  be  displayed  in  the  rooms. 
Thus,  for  instance,  rooms  in  which  objects  of 
various  classes  are  displayed  together  according 
to  period  must  partake  somewhat  of  the  general 
character  of  the  century  they  represent.  Should 
a  museum  be  fortunate  enough  to  possess  actual 
interiors,  special  arrangement  must,  of  course,  be 
made  for  showing  them.  (cf.  Zurich,  Landes- 


28  THE  MUSEUM 

museum ;  Stockholm,  Northern  Museum,  and  many 
others.)  Galleries  for  sculpture  require  greater 
height  than  galleries  for  pictures.  Where  one  is 
working  with  a  collection  already  established  it  is 
much  simpler  to  decide  upon  the  necessary  pro- 
portions of  the  rooms,  but  where  the  collections 
are  yet  to  be  madeithe  only  thing  forNthe  architect 
and  Director  to  do  is  to  arrange  a  sufficient 
diversity  in  the  size  and  shape  of  their  galleries 
to  provide  for  all  classes  of  material.  The  com- 
monest mistake  is  that  of  making  the  side-lighted 
galleries  too  high  and  the  top-lighted  galleries 
too  low.  Among  the  best  proportioned  and  best 
adapted  rooms  used  for  the  exhibition  of  paintings 
are  the  new  picture  galleries  of  the  Vatican.  For 
very  large  top-lighted  rooms  those  in  the  Brera, 
Nos.  Ill,  IV,  V,  in  Milan  are  very  attractive, 
though  it  would  be  impossible  to  use  the  same 
height  here  (36  feet,  9  inches  to  skylight,  no 
inner  ceiling  light)  as  the  light  is  so  different,  and 
rooms  46,  61,  63,  29,  34  in  the  Kaiser  Friedrich 
are  also  very  effective.  A  masterly  discussion  of 
the  question  of  proportion  will  be  found  in  the 
Boston  Museum  Communications  to  the  Trustees, 
No.  Ill,  The  Museum  Commission  in  Europe. 
Nowhere  else  has  this  matter  been  studied  so 
profoundly  and  nowhere  have  the  results  been  so 
carefully  tabulated  as  here. 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  29 

The  question  of  proportion  is  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  question  of  light,  which  leads  us 
to  our  next  subject. 

LIGHT 

Much  the  most  important  subject  for  considera- 
tion in  the  building  of  a  museum  is  the  relative 
advantage  of  top-light  and  side-light.  Some 
twenty  years  ago  no  one  would  have  considered 
for  a  moment  the  use  of  side-light  in  a  museum. 
Now  the  pendulum  has  swung  so  far  in  the  other 
direction  that  there  are  some  museum  men  who 
are  unwilling  to  consider  the  use  of  top-light 
at  all,  except  for  modern  painting.  The  usual 
reasoning  is  as  follows.  In  the  old  days  artists 
painted  their  pictures  for  rooms  in  palaces  or 
churches  or  other  places  where  side-light  would 
be  their  portion.  Now  the  artist  must  prepare 
for  the  fate  which,  if  he  is  successful,  awaits  his 
pictures  in  the  great  exhibition  halls  all  over  the 
world.  To  put  a  modern  picture,  especially  a 
large  one,  in  an  ordinary  side-light,  is  to  lose 
entirely  the  nuances  desired  by  the  artist.  On 
the  other  hand,  to  put  Italian  primitives  under 
a  top-light  is  to  lose  much  of  their  beauty.  In 
this  connection  it  is  well  to  remember  certain 
examples,  as  for  instance  Titian's  Presentation 
of  the  Virgin  in  the  Temple,  in  the  Academy  in 


30  THE  MUSEUM 

Venice.  This  picture  has  now  been  restored  to 
its  original  place  and  nothing  can  exceed  its 
charm  when  seen  in  the  afternoon,  with  the  west- 
ern sun  shedding  a  golden  glow  over  the  light 
in  the  room  and  rendering  all  the  color  in  the 
picture  luminous  and  gay. 

If  we  are  to  give  pictures  their  full  value  it  is 
necessary  to  reproduce  as  nearly  as  possible  the 
conditions  under  which  they  were  painted  or  for 
which  they  were  painted.  Thus  in  the  Kaiser 
Friedrich  Museum  in  Berlin,  the  room  which  is 
devoted  to  the  earliest  Italian  painting,  although 
top-lighted,  is  so  screened  by  glass  as  to  give 
quite  the  effect  of  the  dimly  lighted  church.  Al- 
most all  early  painting  was  intended  for  churches, 
and  while  it  would  be  both  unwise  and  stupid  to 
try  to  reproduce  the  dimness  of  the  church  in- 
terior, it  is  also  poor  policy  to  provide  too  strong 
a  light.  We  have  all  suffered  in  visiting  churches 
for  the  purpose  of  seeing  paintings,  not  only  from 
the  obstruction  of  candles,  but  also  from  the  dim- 
ness of  the  light.  In  Italy,  where  the  light  is  so 
strong  outside,  the  windows  in  the  churches  are 
correspondingly  small,  and  most  of  us  have  to 
accustom  ourselves  to  the  lack  of  light  before  we 
can  begin  to  see  the  treasures  that  are  hidden  in 
this  darkness.  In  France  and  Germany,  on  the 
other  hand,  where  the  light  outside  is  never  strong, 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  31 

the  windows  in  the  churches  have  become  extraor- 
dinarily large,  but  they  have  been  so  filled  with 
colored  glass  that  the  light  within  remains  exceed- 
ingly dim.  A  British  architect  who  has  made  a 
special  study  of  museums  both  in  this  country  and 
abroad,  writes  of  "The  excessive  glare  so  loved 
by  the  American  museum  director"  (American 
Museum  Buildings,  by  Cecil  Claude  Brewer, 
F.R.I.B.A.,  Journal  of  the  Royal  Institute  of 
British  Architects,  3rd  Series,  vol.  XX,  No.  10). 
Yet  an  excess  of  light  is  much  more  to  be  desired 
than  the  reverse,  for  while  the  former  can  be 
controlled  by  curtains,  louvres,  and  other  devices, 
the  latter  cannot  be  increased  without  great  diffi- 
culty once  the  building  is  completed. 

More  than  one  student  of  the  subject  has 
pointed  out  that  top-light  striking  down  on  oil 
paintings  has  the  disadvantage  of  falling  upon 
the  top  surface  of  the  painting,  which  when  mag- 
nified is  seen  to  be  composed  of  little  ridges.  Top- 
light,  instead  of  hitting  the  surface  opposite  the 
visitor,  hits  the  upper  part  of  the^ridge  and  leaves 
the  lower  surface  in  darkness,  thus  giving  im- 
proper values. 

Top-light  is  unsatisfactory  for  rooms  in  which 
objects  in  cases  are  to  be  shown.  If  the  cases 
are  large,  the  reflection  of  the  ceiling  light  in  the 
glass  seriously  interferes  with  seeing  the  objects 


32  THE  MUSEUM 

in  the  case.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  objects 
are  small  and  are  placed  in  an  ordinary  desk  case, 
the  visitor  in  bending  over  the  case  finds  his  own 
image  looking  up  at  him  from  the  glass,  and  it 
is  only  by  a  great  effort  that  it  is  possible  to  see 
the  objects  on  exhibition.  Glass  cases  in  general 
should  be  placed  so  that  in  looking  at  the  objects 
the  visitor  should  stand  at  right  angles  with  the 
source  of  light.  If  the  visitor  is  required  to  face 
the  light,  reflection  takes  place.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  visitor's  back  is  toward  the  light  his 
pwn  shadow  obscures  the  objects. 

The  most  difficult  question  to  solve  in  an  art 
museum  is  the  light  for  sculpture)  The  consensus 
of  opinion  seems  to  be  in  favor  of  side-light. 
Let  us  consider  some  of  the  purposes  for  which 
sculpture  is  made.  We  have  representation  of 
religious  personages;  the  decoration  of  gardens, 
including  decorative  monuments ;  grave  sculptures ; 
and  portraits.  In  the  first  place  let  us  consider 
what  light  there  would  be  in  a  Greek  or  Roman 
temple.  As  we  know,  there  were  never  any  win- 
dows. All  the  light  that  entered  came  either  from 
the  great  front  door  or,  in  some  Roman  structures, 
from  a  small  aperture  in  the  roof  placed  in  the 
middle  of  the  building  and  considerably  in  front 
of  where  the  statue  of  the  god  would  stand.  In 
this  way  the  top-light  became  in  a  measure  side- 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  33 

light,  through  the  distance  that  it  had  to  fall.  Of 
pieces  intended  for  the  decoration  of  gardens  it 
is  only  necessary  to  say  that  the  light  in  which 
they  stood,  though  resembling  in  certain  ways 
top-light,  in  that  they  stood  in  the  open,  was 
nevertheless  modified  by  the  presence  of  trees 
and  shrubs  which  intercepted  the  direct  rays  of 
the  light  and  made  pleasing  effects  of  shadow  on 
and  around  the  objects.  Grave  sculpture  partakes 
of  both  these  characters.  Architectural  sculpture, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  never  meant  to  be  seen 
without  some  overhanging  or  projecting  cornice 
which  intercepted  the  rays  of  light  sufficiently  to 
give  the  shadow  needed  to  show  the  modelling 
of  the  figures.  Sculpture  placed  in  a  top-lighted 
room  may  lose  much  of  the  refinement  the  care- 
ful sculptor  has  given  it.  The  shadows  are  all 
downward.  Where  it  is  necessary,  however,  to 
place  sculpture  in  top-lighted  rooms  it  is  possible 
to  arrange  it  in  such  a  way  that  the  figures,  in- 
stead of  standing  directly  underneath,  will  receive 
slanting  rays.  Who  can  doubt  the  beauty  of  the 
Fanciulla  d'Anzio  as  she  stands  in  the  Terme 
Museum  in  Rome,  with  a  softened  side  light  fall- 
ing upon  her  in  such  a  way  that  the  shadows  play 
about  all  the  lovely  curves  of  her  body?  Another 
classic  example  is,  of  course,  that  of  the  Venus 
de  Milo,  who  has  stood  for  so  many  years  in  the 


34  THE  MUSEUM 

side-lighted  room  at  the  end  of  the  long  gallery 
in  the  Louvre.  Again,  who  will  not  agree  that 
the  ancient  sculpture  shown  in  that  same  long 
gallery  is  infinitely  more  attractive  by  reason  of 
the  light  and  shadow  that  plays  upon  it  from  the 
windows  along  the  side,  than  the  gallery  of 
modern  sculpture  in  the  Luxembourg,  where  there 
is  strong  top-light?  [On  this  subject  see  Light 
and  Shade  and  their  Application,  by  M.  Luckiesh. 
(D.  van  Nostrand  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1916.)] 

In  the  consideration  of  side-light  much  has  been 
said  in  regard  to  the  necessity  of  using  light  only 
from  the  north.  Any  one  who  is  familiar  with  the 
side-lighted  cabinets  in  the  Kaiser  Friedrich 
Museum  will  admit  the  beauty  and  attractiveness 
of  the  south  light  which  streams  so  warmly  into 
the  rooms  where  hang  the  paintings  of  the  Dutch 
and  German  schools.  The  only  advantage  in 
north  light  is  its  convenience  to  the  museum 
director  and  the  custodians.  A  north  light  is 
always  the  same. 

Direct  sunlight  is  harmful  to  most  classes  of 
objects  but  cream-colored  curtains  can  easily  be 
provided,  which,  when  drawn  together,  diffuse 
the  light  in  the  room,  and  when  open  are  entirely 
unobjectionable,  as  they  hang  by  the  side  of  the 
window.  (Compare  Vatican  picture  gallery.) 

Light  conditions  vary  so  extraordinarily  in  dif- 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  35 

ferent  places  that  it  is  necessary  in  each  case  to 
experiment  with  the  amount  of  light  required. 
(See  Communications  to  the  Trustees,  No.  4, 
Boston  Museum  Publications.) 

The  difference  between  top-light  and  side-light 
will  never  mean  anything  to  the  museum  director 
who  has  not  at  some  time  studied  the  same  picture 
under  varying  conditions.  The  writer  once  had 
the  opportunity  of  seeing  Correggio's  Leda  in 
the  little  side-lighted,  white-washed  room  with 
the  grisaille  decorations  by  Tiepolo  in  the  Kaiser 
Friedrich  Museum  in  Berlin,  where  the  wonder- 
ful charm  of  the  color  and  the  warm  and  lively 
composition  were  a  joy  to  the  beholder.  A  few 
weeks  later  the  same  picture  was  hung  in  its  usual 
place  in  the  top-lighted  gallery  No.  45.  The  drop 
in  tone  and  the  flatness  of  the  color  were  very 
marked  and  the  picture  has  lost  immeasurably  by 
the  change.  [On  this  subject  see  report  of  the 
Commission  to  Experiment  upon  Lighting  of  Rem- 
brandt's Night  Watch.  (The  Hague,  1902.) 
Abridged  translation  in  Boston  Museum  of  Fine 
Arts'  Communication  to  the  Trustees,  vol.  II.] 

But  when  all  has  been  said  on  both  sides,  we 
come  back  to  the  one  matter  of  real  importance 
which  is  that  whether  top-light  or  side-light  is 
adopted,  a  proper  diffusion  of  the  light  in  the 
room  is  the  one  great  desideratum.  In  order  to 


36  THE  MUSEUM 

obtain  this,  experiments  must  be  made  in  side- 
lighted  rooms  with  the  height  of  the  window  sill 
from  the  floor,  the  size  of  the  opening,  and  the 
proportion  of  glass  to  wall  surface.  In  the  same 
way  with  top-light,  the  height  of  the  outer  sky- 
light from  the  floor,  the  treatment  of  the  space 
between  outer  and  inner  lights,  the  height  of  the 
inner  glass  ceiling,  and  the  proportional  size  of 
this  last  must  all  be  carefully  studied,  not  only  in 
already  established  and  successful  museums,  but  in 
the  town  and  on  the  exact  spot  where  the  new 
gallery  is  to  be  located. 

In  general  it  may  be  said  that  if  side-light  is 
chosen  for  pictures  and  sculpture  it  should  enter 
from  a  height,  while  for  objects  in  cases  and  for 
prints  a  low  side-light  is  preferable. 

Intermediate  between  side-light  and  top-light  is 
the  clerestory  system  such  as  is  used  in  the  great 
hall  of  the  Decorative  Arts  wing  of  the  Metro- 
politan and  in  the  basilica  of  the  Kaiser  Friedrich 
Museum.  Here  the  light  entering  very  high  is 
reflected  on  the  light  walls  of  the  upper  part  of 
the  room  until  it  becomes  thoroughly  diffused  and 
loses  definite  direction.  A  successfully  top-lighted 
room  should  have  much  the  same  characteristic; 
the  wall  surface  needs  to  be  lighted  rather  than 
the  centre  of  the  room  and  the  problem  is  to  so 
arrange  the  angle  of  light  that  in  passing  through 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  37 

both  glass  ceilings  it  becomes  sufficiently  diffused 
to  give  equal  satisfaction  in  all  parts  of  the  room. 

CEILINGS  AND  SKYLIGHTS 

The  great  difficulty  in  museum  rooms  is  to  get 
the  height  necessary  for  proportion  and  good  light 
without  making  the  walls  look  too  high  and  too 
dark  at  the  top.  After  much  experimentation,  it 
has  been  discovered  that  a  ceiling  with  a  cove  is 
best  adapted  for  museum  purposes.  The  cove 
makes  a  reflecting  surface  which  sends  the  light 
directly  onto  the  walls  and  diminishes  the  useless 
space  above  the  hanging  line.  In  the  case  of  top- 
light,  the  cove  ceiling  is  particularly  important, 
for  the  dark  pocket  between  the  skylight  and  the 
walls  is  ugly  and  wasteful  of  light.  In  a  side- 
lighted  room,  the  cove  may  be  much  smaller  than 
in  a  top-lighted  room.  It  used  to  be  thought  nec- 
essary to  make  the  ceiling  glass  the  full  width  of 
the  room,  but  now  it  has  been  found  that  the 
light  is  better  and  the  whole  effect  more  pleasing 
if  the  glass  stops  two  to  five  feet  from  the  side 
walls,  according  to  the  size  and  proportion  of  the 
gallery,  and  this  space  is  filled  by  a  cove.  The  ribs 
between  the  glass  of  the  skylights  should  be  as 
small  as  possible  as  each  one  casts  a  disagreeable 
shadow  on  walls  and  floor.  By  placing  the  glass 
at  the  bottom  of  these  ribs  rather  than  at  the  top 


38  THE  MUSEUM 

this  effect  is  minimized.  In  mild  climates  the 
ceiling  light  is  sometimes  omitted  entirely  but  the 
attic  space  between  the  outer  skylight  and  an 
inner  glass  ceiling  is  valuable  in  many  ways,  espe- 
cially for  ventilation.  Excessive  summer  heat 
and  winter  cold  are  kept  confined  in  the  loft  above 
the  glass.  A  warning  is  necessary  here  in  regard 
to  the  space  above  the  ceiling  light.  It  is  one 
of  the  most  important  things  in  the  whole  museum 
that  this  should  be  accessible,  decently  finished 
and  large  enough  to  be  ventilated  and  cleaned. 
The  janitor  should  be  able  frequently  to  clean 
the  ceiling  lights,  the  electricians  to  work  comfort- 
ably on  the  wires  provided  for  artificial  illumina- 
tion which  is  now  always  above  the  ceiling  light, 
and  the  beams  and  girders  should  be  so  placed 
that  it  is  possible  to  provide  curtains  or  shades 
or  louvres  to  exclude  too  abundant  light.  Where 
the  loft  between  the  two  glasses  is  small,  the  heat 
accumulates  in  this  space  in  summer  and  it  re- 
quires a  very  efficient  system  of  ventilation  to 
take  care  of  it,  but  where  the  loft  is  large  enough, 
it  is  easy  to  arrange  openings  provided  with  louvre 
vents  in  opposite  walls  so  that  a  direct  draft  can 
be  obtained.  The  dust  that  enters  in  this  way 
is  a  serious  matter  but  the  heat  in  the  galleries 
is  worse,  and,  as  the  glass  of  the  ceiling  lights  is 
usually  set  with  felt,  the  dust  that  seeps  through 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  39 

can  be  taken  care  of.  Such  extreme  measures,  of 
course,  call  for  more  constant  cleaning,  but  the 
safety  of  the  objects  and  the  comfort  of  the  guards 
and  visitors  will  be  sufficient  to  offset  this.  A  fine 
wire  screen  placed  on  the  inside  of  these  openings 
will  keep  out  birds  and  insects.  In  winter,  of 
course,  these  louvre  vents  can  be  replaced  by  solid 
doors  which  will  keep  out  the  cold. 

Museums  in  the  north  must  contend  with  winter 
snows.  It  is  hard  to  keep  skylights  from  leaking 
if  snow  is  allowed  to  stay  upon  them,  aside  from 
the  darkness  of  the  galleries.  Shovelling  off  the 
snow  is  a  difficult  process  because  of  the  danger 
of  breaking  glass.  Steam  pipes  should  be  pro- 
vided running  just  under  the  glass.  When  snow 
has  fallen  the  steam  should  be  turned  on  very 
slowly  and  the  snow  gradually  melted  away.  Heat 
too  rapidly  applied  will  cause  the  glass  to  crack. 
A  certain  American  museum  has  arranged  a 
sprinkler  system  for  use  on  the  outer  roof  in 
case  of  excessive  heat  in  summer.  It  has  not 
been  working  long  enough  to  permit  a  satisfactory 
judgment  of  its  efficiency.  The  same  system  was 
tried  in  Nuremberg  but  failed  because  the  water 
poured  on  the  hot  glass  caused  it  to  crack.  A 
skillful  and  prodigal  use  of  water  might,  how- 
ever, prove  effective. 

For  various  types  of  skylight  the  reader  is  re- 


THE  MUSEUM 


ferred  to  plates  in  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts 
Communications  to  the  Trustees,  No.  Ill,  The 
Museum  Commission  in  Europe,  and  to  J.  Guadet, 
Elements  et  Theorie  de  L'Architecture,  Tome  II, 
Livre  VII,  Chapter  VII;  Dr.  Heinrich  Wagner, 
Handbuch  der  Architektur,  IV  Theil,  6  Halbband, 
4  Heft,  uMuseen." 

The  monitor  or  lantern  light  has  been  devel- 
oped in  England  with  much  satisfaction  and  was 


Double  Glazed 
Ordinary  Skylight 


Vertical  Monitor 
With  Some  Top-light 

TYPES  OF  TOP-LIGHTED  GALLERIES 


studied  very  thoroughly  by  the  late  Professor 
Lichtwark  of  Hamburg  who  adapted  it  in  various 
forms  for  use  on  the  new  Kunsthalle  in  that 
city.  It  has  the  advantage  of  not  becoming 
clogged  with  snow  in  winter,  of  being  easy  to 
ventilate  and  of  reducing  the  glare  of  light  on 
the  floor  in  the  middle  of  the  room.  Architectur- 
ally it  has  a  certain  disadvantage  in  that  it  stands 
rather  high  above  the  surrounding  roof  of  the 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  41 

>>•— < 

building  and  must  either  be  treated  frankly  as  an 
architectural  feature  or  screened  behind  some 
form  of  balustrade.  Where  practical  it  is  very 
satisfactory  and  simple  to  work  with. 

OFFICES    OF   THE    STAFF,    LIBRARY   AND    LECTURE 
ROOMS 

One  of  the  commonest  mistakes  made  in  the 
planning  of  a  museum  is  disregarding  the  fact 
that  there  will  be  a  large  amount  of  office  work 
requiring  a  series  of  staff  rooms.  The  staff  do 
not  need  to  occupy  rooms  of  the  height  and  pro- 
portion usually  assigned  to  galleries,  and  it  is, 
therefore,  a  waste  of  space  to  put  the  offices  on 
the  main  gallery  floor  unless  they  are  arranged 
with  a  mezzanine.  There  should  be,  even  in  the 
smallest  museum,  an  office  for  the  Director  reached 
through  one  for  the  stenographer,  and,  as  the 
building  increases  in  size,  provision  for  an  as- 
sistant director,  a  bursar,  a  membership  clerk, 
etc.,  etc.  Small  rooms  are  adequate  and  greatly 
to  be  preferred  to  one  large  room  where  many 
people  work  together. 

An  important  point  in  connection  with  the 
offices  must  be  the  provision  for  the  records  of 
the  museum.  For  them  a  fire-proof  closet  or 
vault  should  be  built,  unless  the  museum  is  able 
to  provide  safes,  as  the  loss  of  the  documents  in 


42  THE  MUSEUM 

connection  with  any  work  of  art  is  almost  as  vital 
as  the  loss  of  the  object  itself. 

Another  room  which  should  be  easily  accessible, 
not  only  to  the  staff  but  to  the  public,  is  the  library. 
No  museum  officials  can  be  expected  to  properly 
carry  on  their  work  unless  they  can  be  provided 
with  certain  readily  obtainable  text  and  reference 
books.  Wherever  it  is  possible  there  should  also 
•be  a  good  collection  of  photographs  which  will 
be  of  the  utmost  assistance  in  determining  attribu- 
tions. 

An  important  part  of  the  function  of  the  mu- 
seum is  coming  to  be  the  extension  of  the  work 
of  the  staff  to  include  lectures  for  the  public.  For 
this  there  must  be  provided  at  least  one  lecture 
room  in  the  museum  and  preferably  two.  These 
rooms  can  also  be  used  for  meetings  of  outside 
organizations  interested  in  the  history  of  art,  and 
by  providing  such  space  the  museum  becomes  the 
centre  for  clubs  studying  this  subject. 

One  of  the  best  equipped  lecture  rooms  in  con- 
nection with  a  museum  is  the  one  at  the  Eth- 
nographical Museum  in  Hamburg.  This  build- 
ing has  four  wings  which  come  together  around 
two  courts,  forming  an  obtuse  angle  on  the  front. 
The  entrance  and  vestibule  are  at  this  angle  and 
the  main  galleries  of  the  museum  go  out  on  either 
side.  There  is  a  central  wing  between  these  two 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  43 

side  wings,  which  is  occupied  by  the  library  and 
lecture  rooms,  and  which  joins  the  fourth  wing 
at  the  back.  This  fourth  wing  contains  the  work- 
rooms, store  rooms  and  the  rooms  of  the  staff, 
and  communicates  directly  with  the  two  wings  in 
which  is  the  main  exhibition  space.  The  Direc- 
tor's offices  are  approached  by  a  separate  door. 
The  lecture  room  is  thus  directly  accessible  to  the 
public  without  entering  the  exhibition  galleries. 
At  the  back  of  the  lecture  hall  is  a  room  for 
the  use  of  the  lecturer.  The  seats  are  arranged 
as  in  a  theatre,  on  the  sloping  floor,  the  stereop- 
ticon  being  placed  about  at  the  centre  of  the  room 
on  a  stand  which  can  be  automatically  raised  and 
lowered.  The  lecturer  stands  upon  a  platform 
in  front  of  which  runs  a  long  table.  Beneath  this 
table  the  lecturer  finds  electric  buttons  which  con- 
trol the  shutters  at  the  windows  on  the  sides  of 
the  hall.  By  pressing  one  of  these  buttons  the 
metal  curtains  at  the  windows  are  lowered  prac- 
tically without  noise  and  with  no  effort.  Another 
switch  controls  the  lights,  and  still  a  third  one 
the  blackboard,  which  drops  like  the  curtains  in 
Greek  and  Roman  theatres,  into  a  socket  in  the 
floor.  The  stereopticon  is  a  double  one  and  is 
arranged  so  that  two  slides  can  be  thrown  on  the 
screen  at  the  same  time,  thus  making  it  possible 
to  compare  very  readily  two  types  of  material. 


44  THE  MUSEUM 

Behind  the  screen  is  a  blackboard  which  can  be 
used  when  the  stereopticon  is  not  needed.  In  ad- 
dition, on  both  sides  are  racks  upon  which  maps 
can  be  hung  and  raised  or  lowered  by  means  of 
a  very  simple  device.  They  are  so  hung  that 
several  maps  or  charts  can  be  arranged,  one  above 
the  other,  and  yet  so  that  they  can  be  exhibited 
with  a  minimum  of  effort  on  the  part  of  the  lec- 
turer. Mechanical  devices  of  this  sort  are  a 
nuisance  when  overdone.  The  late  Dr.  Meyer 
of  Dresden  was  one  of  the  first  to  introduce  a 
large  number  of  such  systems  into  his  museum 
and  the  student  will  readily  perceive  which  of 
them  are  more  ingenious  than  practical.  [See 
F.  A.  Bather,  Many  Inventions,  Museums 
Journal,  vol.  IV,  page  202,  and  Dr.  A.  B.  Meyer, 
III  Bericht  iiber  einige  neue  Einrichtungen  in 
Dresden,  1903.] 

Common  sense  is  a  prime  requisite  for  any  one 
connected  with  a  museum.  It  must  be  possible  to 
tell  the  difference  between  a  device  which  will  be 
expensive  to  instal  and  not  very  satisfactory 
after  it  is  installed,  and  one  which  is  absolutely 
essential  to  the  working  of  the  museum.  In  the 
case  mentioned,  the  presence  underneath  the  table 
of  the  switches  which  control  the  curtains  and  the 
lights,  is  excellent.  The  advisability  of  having 
a  disappearing  blackboard  and  arrangements  for 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  45 

banging  maps  is  not  so  apparent.  In  buying  the 
stereopticon  for  the  large  lecture  room  it  would 
perhaps  be  as  well  to  provide  a  double-barrelled 
one,  as  it  is  certainly  very  convenient  at  times  to 
have  two  pictures  on  the  screen,  side  by  side.  Some 
museums  may  want  to  instal  a  reflectroscope  by 
means  of  which  it  would  be  possible  to  throw  upon 
the  screen  photographs  or  illustrations  in  books 
and  other  opaque  material,  in  addition  to  the  slides. 
There  are  several  such  machines  on  the  market 
which  are  fairly  satisfactory  in  a  small  room  and 
with  material  which  does  not  exceed  6x6  inches  in 
size.  Books  are  not  as  easily  handled  as  the  dealer 
usually  represents  them  to  be,  and  the  strong 
focussing  of  light  on  the  photograph  or  post  card 
creates  heat  which  is  liable  to  burn  it  up  if  kept 
in  too  long. 

Some  museums  have  deemed  it  wise  for  the 
stereopticon  to  be  in  an  adjoining  room.  In  this 
case  the  end  of  the  lens  projects  into  the  lecture 
room  through  a  hole  in  the  wall  and  all  noise  of 
the  machine  is  shut  off.  In  case  this  is  done, 
some  sort  of  a  speaking  tube  has  to  be  arranged 
so  that  the  operator  can  get  in  touch  with  the 
lecturer,  as  a  bell  is  not  always  sufficient  to  explain 
the  lecturer's  needs.  Where  two  lecture  rooms 
(a  large  one  and  a  small  one)  are  arranged  side 
by  side,  some  such  system  as  this  might  permit 


46  THE  MUSEUM 

the  use  of  the  same  stereopticon  for  both  rooms. 
The  stand  could  easily  be  made  to  revolve  and 
if  the  rooms  are  not  used  simultaneously  there 
should  be  no  difficulty.  A  separate  room  of  this 
kind  is  necessary  where  motion  pictures  are  to 
be  shown  and  a  fully  equipped  lecture  room  should 
not  be  without  it. 

The  development  of  the  nitrogen  lamp  has  re- 
cently quite  revolutionized  stereopticon  systems. 
A  1000  or  I5oo-watt  lamp  attached  to  an  ordi- 
nary circuit  can  be  operated  noiselessly  by  even 
the  most  unskilled  person  with  satisfactory  results. 
Too  much  power  is  not  wanted  with  slides  and 
a  cheap  machine  with  good  lenses  provided  with 
one  of  these  lamps  is  perfectly  satisfactory  in  a 
small  room.  In  choosing  a  stereopticon  it  is  well 
to  remember  that  if  it  is  possible  to  load  and 
unload  the  slide  carriage  from  the  side  next  the 
operator  much  fatigue  is  spared.  Constant  reach- 
ing over  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  machine  to 
remove  or  put  in  a  slide  is  tiresome  as  well  as 
slower. 

The  ventilation  of  the  lecture  room  should  be 
carefully  considered.  In  case  it  is  impossible  to 
instal  the  special  lecture  room  system  with  the 
outlets  under  the  seats  there  should  always  be 
outside  windows  which  can  be  opened  in  case  of 
need.  It  is  unwise  to  put  the  lecture  room  on  the 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  47 

regular  circuit  in  an  ordinary  system,  as  the  lec- 
turer's voice  and  the  sound  of  applause  can  be 
heard  in  all  the  other  rooms  on  the  circuit. 

WORKSHOPS  AND  STORE  ROOMS 

The  modern  museum  must  be  provided  with 
workshops.  Certain  pieces  of  work  should  never 
be  done  outside.  It  is  not  always  necessary  to  have 
workmen  constantly  employed  in  the  building  in 
all  the  fields  that  are  needed,  but  the  shops  should 
be  arranged  so  that  an  expert  coming  in  from 
outside  would  not  be  handicapped.  A  restorer's 
studio,  a  carpenter's  shop  with  a  full  set  of  tools 
and  cabinet  maker's  bench,  a  printer's  office  with 
a  small  hand  press,  a  paint  shop  especially  fire- 
proofed  and  not  connected  with  other  rooms,  a 
disinfecting  room  equipped  with  vacuum  tank  for 
the  use  of  the  textile  department,  a  plaster 
moulder's  shop,  possibly  even  a  small  forge,  and 
a  photographer's  studio  are  all  more  or  less  nec- 
essary. Some  of  these  shops  may  be  located  in 
the  basement,  others,  like  the  printer's  office  and 
the  photographer's  studio  should  be  up  under  the 
roof.  But  wherever  they  are,  they  must  be  ar- 
ranged so  that  large  objects  can  easily  be  taken 
to  and  from  them.  .)  Much  better  results  can  be 
obtained  by  the  photographer  with  paintings  in 
his  studio  than  in  the  galleries.  Access  to  the 


48  THE  MUSEUM 

/ 

studio  must  therefore  be  provided.  Photogra- 
pher's quarters  on  the  top  floor  of  the  museum 
building,  in  some  out-of-the-way  angle  not  needed 
for  exhibition  purposes,  are  often  arranged,  but 
the  mistake  is  made  of  building  a  two-foot  stair- 
way leading  up  to  them  by  which  large  objects 
cannot  be  taken  to  the  studio.  The  main  freight 
elevator  shaft  should  in  all  cases  go  to  the  highest 
and  lowest  points  in  the  building,  as  there  is  no 
use  in  rooms  which  cannot  be  reached,  and  every 
available  space  in  the  museum  must  be  utilized. 
At  the  Kaiser  Friedrich  Museum  in  Berlin,  as  in 
many  others  of  our  best  planned  museums,  the 
elevator  stops  at  the  main  gallery  floor  and 
under  the  roof  are  several  storage  rooms  and  an 
excellent  photographer's  studio.  The  most  com- 
plete installation  of  workshops  in  this  country  is 
at  the  Metropolitan  in  New  York.  Here,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  shops  mentioned  above,  are  the 
laboratories  for  the  care  of  Egyptian  limestones 
and  the  restoration  of  classical  antiquities.  In 
the  Berlin  museums  a  complete  chemical  labora- 
tory adds  to  the  equipment  for  the  scientific  care 
of  art  objects. 

In  most  European  museums  it  is  considered 
necessary  to  have  a  caretaker  live  in  the  museum 
building  and  for  his  use  an  apartment  is  pro- 
vided. In  this  country,  however,  this  does  not 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  49 

seem  advisable.  The  janitors  by  day  and  watch- 
men by  night  are  considered  sufficient  protection 
for  any  museum.  The  extraordinary  difference 
between  the  frequency  with  which  fire  breaks  out 
in  this  country  in  comparison  with  the  rarity  of 
its  occurrence  in  Europe,  makes  an  especially 
strong  plea  against  providing  in  .the  museum, 
rooms  which  shall  be  occupied  by  a  family. 

Machinery  should  be  kept  as  far  as  possible 
from  the  main  building.  In  a  large  museum 
where  a  number  of  boilers  are  necessary  for  heat- 
ing purposes  and  where  an  electric  plant  supplies 
the  power  to  run  the  ventilating  and  lighting  sys- 
tems, this  plant  is  usually  placed  either  outside 
the  museum  entirely  or  in  a  court.  In  the  old 
days  when  the  coal  supplies  were  kept  on  the 
floor  of  the  boiler  house  and  shovelled  in  by  hand, 
there  was  invariably  a  large  amount  of  dirt  which 
could  not  be  avoided.  Now,  however,  when  all 
up-to-date  museums  are  putting  in  a  self-feeding 
system  of  furnaces,  the  coal  or  oil  is  confined  in 
bins  or  tanks  and  is  passed  from  them  through 
an  automatic  device,  onto  the  fire.  With  such  a 
device  the  boiler  rooms  can  be  kept  as  clean  as 
any  part  of  the  museum.  There  is  a  minimum  of 
fire  danger,  as  the  fire  box  is  practically  never 
opened.  Of  course  it  is  necessary  to  provide  espe- 
cially thick  walls  with  few  openings  and  to  avoid 


50  THE  MUSEUM 

fire  danger  as  far  as  possible.  If  this  is  done 
there  is  no  reason  why  the  boilers  should  not 
be  put  in  the  basement  of  the  museum  building, 
provided  space  is  left  above  to  take  care  of  exces- 
sive heat.  The  electric  plant  is  apt  to  cause  vibra- 
tion and  noise  and  unless  an  especially  silent  set 
of  machinery  is  installed  it  is  much  better  to  place 
it  outside  the  walls  of  the  museum.  Of  course 
it  is  always  possible  to  use  the  current  supplied 
by  an  outside  firm  but  it  is  much  more  expensive 
than  where  electricity  is  generated  at  the  building. 
Store  rooms  of  various  kinds  are  needed.  A 
large  clear  space  which  need  not  necessarily  be 
lighted  by  daylight  should  be  provided  for  boxes. 
A  loan  exhibition  comes  in,  is  unpacked  and  the 
boxes  stored;  perhaps  fifteen  or  twenty  boxes 
more  come  in  before  that  exhibition  goes  out  again. 
The  store  room  must  be  so  arranged  that  it  will 
be  possible  to  take  out  the  first  set  of  boxes  with- 
out interfering  with  the  second.  Rooms  for  the 
storage  of  pictures  and  other  art  objects  should 
be  provided  on  the  gallery  floors.  A  small  store 
room  next  the  Director's  office  for  objects  offered 
for  sale  is  a  valuable  adjunct  and  a  store  room 
near  one  of  the  entrances  for  objects  loaned  for 
special  exhibitions  by  local  artists  is  also  a  de- 
sideratum. These  objects  which  are  sent  in  to 
be  passed  upon  by  a  jury  should  not  have  to  be 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  51 

placed  in  the  store  rooms  with  more  permanent 
material  and  should  also  be  easily  accessible  when 
the  artists  call  for  them  if  they  have  been  rejected 
or  after  the  exhibition  is  over.  There  must  also 
be  storage  space  for  janitor's  supplies,  catalogs 
and  office  supplies  of  all  kinds. 

FIRE  RISK,  RESTAURANT 

Fire,  theft  and  dust  are  the  three  great  enemies 
of  the  museum  Director.  For  some  reason  that 
is  hard  to  explain,  we,  in  America,  are  subject  to 
a  fire  peril  which  is  unknown  in  Europe.  In  Italy, 
for  instance,  it  is  a  common  experience  to  see 
a  carpenter  occupying  a  shop  in  the  ground  floor 
of  a  big  apartment  building,  sweep  together  his 
shavings  into  the  middle  of  his  shop,  set  fire  to 
them  there,  and  then  sweep  the  ashes  into  the 
street.  Nothing  ever  burns  down;  whereas  here 
with  all  the  precautions  that  we  take  against  fire 
we  are  constantly  having  terrific  disasters.  In 
most  cities  in  America  there  are  police  regulations 
which  must  be  complied  with  in  regard  to  fire 
doors,  etc.,  and  the  law  in  regard  to  entrances  is 
very  strict.  All  doors  must  be  made  to.  open 
out  so  that  in  case  of  fire  the  exits  will  not  be 
impeded.  The  number  of  staircases,  also,  is  reg- 
ulated by  law  and  often  there  are  requirements 
in  regard  to  the  thickness  of  the  walls.  With  all 


52  THE  MUSEUM 

these  things  the  building  committee  should  be  con- 
versant. 

An  important  precaution  is  the  use  of  fire  doors 
by  means  of  which  the  different  parts  of  the 
museum  building  can  be  shut  off,  one  from  another. 
These  are  often  made  with  what  is  called  a  fusi- 
ble link,  an  attachment  which  when  the  tempera- 
ture reaches  a  certain  degree,  automatically  closes 
the  door.  These  doors  are  never  handsome  but 
if  they  are  planned  during  the  construction  of 
the  building  they  can  be  made  to  run  in  the 
thickness  of  the  wall  so  that  when  opened  they 
are  concealed.  If  a  plan  is  adopted  similar  to 
that  of  the  National  Museum  in  Munich  such 
an  arrangement  is  absolutely  necessary,  as  a  fire 
once  started  could  spread  too  easily  from  one 
room  to  another,  and  what  is  more,  the  damage 
done  by  the  smoke  would  be  very  great.  Fire 
doors  usually  fit  so  tight  that  the  minimum  amount 
of  smoke  passes  through  them.  In  general,  it 
seems  wise  to  reduce  as  far  as  possible  the  num- 
ber of  places  in  the  building  where  fires  are 
lighted  or  matches  need  to  be  struck.  In  the 
carpenter's  shop  it  is  necessary  to  have  an  ar- 
rangement for  heating  glue.  At  the  present  time, 
a  small  electric  machine  which  uses  very  little  cur- 
rent can  be  obtained  especially  for  this  purpose, 
and  these  electric  gluepots  are  much  cleaner  and 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  53 

safer  in  every  way  than  the  old-fashioned  gas 
heaters. 

A  source  of  danger,  but  a  necessary  one,  comes 
from  the  restaurant.  It  is  only  in  the  last  ten 
years  that  restaurants  in  museums  have  been  con- 
sidered feasible.  They  were  not  necessary  in  the 
old  days  when  the  museums  were  much  smaller 
than  they  are  now,  but  since  it  has  been  the 
fashion  for  us  to  have  buildings  with  the  floor 
area  of  the  Louvre  and  the  British  Museum  and 
the  Metropolitan,  it  has  become  necessary  to 
provide  the  weary  traveller  with  some  means  of 
sustaining  life  until  he  can  accomplish  his  object. 
The  size  of  the  restaurants  provided  differs  in 
different  places,  although  the  most  complete  and 
most  delightful  in  many  respects  is  the  celebrated 
one  at  the  South  Kensington  Museum  in  London. 
Here  it  is  possible  for  people  of  moderate  means 
to  get  a  good  and  inexpensive  luncheon  in  the 
large  and  airy  room  on  the  main  floor.  The 
epicure  may  go  to  the  grill,  at  a  slightly  increased 
cost,  select  his  own  chop  or  steak,  and  see  it 
cooked  before  his  eyes,  over  a  most  dangerous 
and  wholly  beautiful  fire  under  an  enormous 
chimney.  The  luxurious  may  enter  a  third  room 
fitted  with  all  the  appointments  of  a  first-class 
hotel,  where  at  a  price  commensurate  with  the 
glory  about  him  he  may  eat  an  excellent  meal. 


54  THE  MUSEUM 

The  number  of  people  who  take  advantage  of 
this  service  is  really  astonishing.  People  even  go 
there  just  for  meals,  but  as  the  restaurant  is 
cunningly  situated  at  the  farthest  point  from  both 
entrances,  going  there  just  for  meals  necessitates 
passing  through  a  number  of  the  most  interesting 
galleries  in  the  museum,  and  the  hungry  wayfarer 
cannot  help  absorbing  a  certain  amount  of  art 
as  he  passes  by.  Restaurants  in  museums  do  not 
need  to  be  on  this  lavish  scale.  Even  a  small 
room  where  nothing  but  tea  and  sandwiches  are 
served  is  a  great  help  and  a  great  rest.  Some 
provision  should  be  made  for  the  staff  of  the 
museum.  The  ideal  condition  would,  of  course, 
be  to  have  a  small  dining  room  for  the  use  of 
the  staff  only,  where  smoking  could  be  allowed 
if  desired,  and  another  room  which  should  be 
open  to  the  general  public.  Museums  are  usually 
situated  at  too  great  a  distance  from  any  centre 
for  it  to  be  possible  for  the  staff  to  go  out  to 
luncheon  and  return  within  the  usual  one  hour 
at  noon.  Cooking  by  electricity  is  the  ideal  ar- 
rangement, but  this  is  usually  too  expensive  to  be 
practical  and  gas  forms  a  useful  substitute. 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  55 

DETAILS  OFTEN  OVERLOOKED 

No  building  committee  should  accept  plans,  no 
matter  by  whom  they  are  submitted,  without  most 
careful  study.  There  are  certain  points  which 
every  architect  forgets,  and  it  is  the  business  of 
the  building  committee  and  the  Director  to  see 
to  it  that  they  are  remembered.  V  Such,  for  in- 
stance, are  the  telephone  system,  bells,  hardware, 
wiring  for  electric  light,  automatic  burglar  sig- 
nals, gas  pipes,  arrangements  for  vacuum  cleaners, 
and  plumbing.  All  these  things  must  be  carefully 
considered  before  the  building  has  gone  so  far 
that  the  cost  of  installation  is  going  to  be  doubled. 
There  is  no  reason  why  locks  on  the  doors  should 
not  be  considered  just  as  well  before  the  doors 
are  ready  to  receive  them,  as  after  the  doors  are 
in  place.  The  hardware  is  all  ordered  long  be- 
fore the  building  is  ready  for  it,  and  unless  unusual 
needs  are  specified  at  the  time  the  plans  are  ac- 
cepted there  will  be  extra  expense  in  later  changes. 
Some  doors  must  be  locked  on  the  outside  and 
some  on  the  inside  only,  a  certain  door  must  be 
accessible  only  to  the  staff  and  must,  therefore, 
be  arranged  to  be  opened  from  the  outside  by  a 
key  and  from  the  inside  by  a  handle,  but  if  this 
same  door  is  so  placed  that  it  is  possible  for  a 
thief  to  enter  through  a  window  at  night  there 


56  THE  MUSEUM 

must  be  an  additional  lock  on  the  outside  of  the 
door  to  keep  him  from  going  out  into  the  gallery. 

The  position  of  the  radiators,  light  switches, 
thermostats,  ventilators  and  all  such  appliances 
must  be  carefully  considered  so  that  they  will  not 
interfere  with  exhibition  space.  In  certain  cities 
the  fire  regulations  require  the  provision  of  four- 
inch  water  pipes  with  outlets  and  hose  attachments 
at  frequent  intervals  in  the  building.  The  law 
states  that  these  must  be  uin  a  conspicuous  place/' 
and  great  tact  and  persistent  effort  on  the  part  of 
the  Director  are  often  necessary  in  order  to  have 
these  so  placed  as  to  comply  with  the  regulations 
and  at  the  same  time  not  to  occupy  the  best  wall 
space  in  the  gallery. 

In  one  museum  in  this  country,  where  no  pro- 
vision was  made  in  the  original  plan  for  the 
offices  of  the  staff,  it  was  decided  to  use  exhibition 
galleries  for  this  purpose.  Although  architect 
and  contractor  both  knew  that  this  was  the  inten- 
tion, no  change  was  made  in  the  order  for  win- 
dows, and  the  great  solid  and  immovable  steel 
and  glass  windows  were  put  in  place  before 
Director  and  building  committee  realized  that 
there  must  be  a  chance  to  change  the  air  in  the 
offices  in  a  building  that  had  no  ventilation.  To 
cut  off  these  windows  and  provide  a  space  that 
could  be  opened  at  the  bottom  was  a  great  expense, 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  57 

and  one  that  might  have  been  saved  by  fore- 
thought. This  simply  goes  to  show  that  there  is 
no  detail  that  may  be  overlooked. 

Architects  in  this  country  think  that  casement 
windows  in  order  to  be  tight  must  open  out. 
There  are  various  disadvantages  in  this  system. 
In  the  first  place  if  a  strong  wind  comes  up  when 
the  window  is  open  the  strain  on  the  frame  and 
glass  is  enormous.  The  opening  and  closing  of  a 
window  that  opens  out  is  much  more  difficult  than 
if  it  opens  in,  but  worst  of  all  is  the  screening. 
On  the  ground  floor  of  museums,  casement  win- 
dows are  often  provided.  If  they  open  in  it  is 
possible  to  put  bars  and  screens  on  the  outside 
with  little  expense.  If  they  open  out  it  is  difficult 
to  bar  them  and  the  screens  must  go  inside  and 
be  arranged  to  slide  up  and  down  so  as  to  provide 
access  to  the  fastenings.  Ordinary  American 
windows  do  not  give  this  trouble,  of  course,  but 
where  casement  windows  are  specified  they  should 
be  made  to  open  in  as  they  do  in  all  continental 
European  countries. 

There  are  often  dark  days  in  winter  when  it  is 
necessary  to  throw  on  artificial  light,  and  even 
if  the  museum  is  not  regularly  open  in  the  evening 
there  will  be  certain  occasions  when  it  will  be 
used  after  dark.  Social  functions  held  in  the 
museum  are  a  great  help  in  increasing  the  mem- 


58  THE  MUSEUM 

bership  and  interest  of  the  public.  Some  scheme 
of  overhead  lighting  must  therefore  be  arranged. 
It  will  also  be  found  useful  to  arrange  a  plug  in 
the  baseboard  which  can  be  used  either  for  spe- 
cial lighting  or  for  a  portable  vacuum  cleaner. 
Where  the  museum  is  to  be  lighted  at  night  each 
room  should  be  provided  with  one  bulb  on  a 
separate  circuit  for  the  use  of  the  night  watchman. 
The  question  of  how  the  lights  shall  be  turned 
on  and  off  is  a  serious  one.  In  the  case  of  a 
lecture  room  it  should  be  possible  either  for  the 
lecturer  himself  or  for  the  attendant  in  charge 
of  the  stereopticon  to  turn  the  lights  on  and  off 
in  the  room.  In  the  Director's  offices  also  it  will 
be  necessary  to  provide  a  switch  which  can  be 
operated  in  the  room.  In  almost  every  other 
case,  however,  it  will  be  found  much  more  satis- 
factory to  have  the  lights  operated  from  a  central 
switchboard.  This  will  obviate  the  danger  which 
would  arise  were  some  visitor  suddenly  to  turn 
off  the  light  in  a  gallery.  Key  switches  may  also 
be  used  to  good  effect.  In  the  Director's  offices, 
it  is  an  excellent  scheme  to  arrange  for  a  floor 
plug  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  to  which  may  be 
attached  desk  lights,  as  a  small  amount  of  con- 
centrated light  is  often  necessary  where  the  room 
is  not  dark  enough  to  require  the  full  amount  of 
light.  These  floor  plugs  do  not  need  to  be  used 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  59 

and  can  be  arranged  flush  with  the  floor  and  with 
a  water-tight  top,  which  is  very  inconspicuous.  If 
these  plugs  are  not  put  in  until  after  the  floor 
is  laid  the  expense  is  enormous.  If,  however,  it 
is  all  planned  beforehand  the  expense  is  incon- 
siderable. 

A  more  or  less  complete  telephone  system  is 
necessary.  It  must  be  possible  for  the  different 
parts  of  the  building  to  communicate  with  each 
other.  The  Director  must  be  in  touch  with  all 
that  is  going  on  and  must  be  able  at  any  moment 
to  reach  the  guards.  Then,  too,  the  telephone  is 
a  necessity  in  case  of  theft  or  any  danger,  as  the 
guard  can  quickly  notify  the  gatekeeper  and  pre- 
vent the  escape  of  the  suspect.  Some  arrange- 
ment should  be  made  by  which  telephone  com- 
munication can  be  maintained  through  the  night  as 
well  as  in  the  daytime;  that  is,  a  museum  should 
never  be  put  on  a  private  branch  exchange  which 
depends  upon  a  switchboard  in  some  other  build- 
ing operated  only  in  the  daytime,  unless  it  is 
plugged  with  one  of  the  trunk  lines  at  night.  It 
will  be  necessary  to  arrange  for  a  conduit  through 
which  telephone  and  electric  wires  can  be  brought 
into  the  building  and  another  for  gas  and  water. 
This  conduit  should  always  be  placed  at  the  time 
the  foundations  are  being  built,  as  otherwise  it 
will  be  necessary  to  pierce  through  the  wall  at 


60  THE  MUSEUM 

considerable  expense.  The  small  pipes  running 
to  the  different  parts  of  the  building  can  be  planned 
so  as  to  take  telephone,  electric  light  and  tele- 
graphic wires  from  the  watchmen's  boxes.  If  all 
these  things  are  planned  ahead  the  expensive 
necessity  of  later  changes  will  be  avoided.  The 
telephone  people,  if  left  to  themselves,  will  bore 
holes  and  run  their  pipes,  leaving  no  chance  for 
any  one  else.  No  sooner  have  they  finished  than 
the  burglar  protection  people  will  come  along  and 
need  wires  in  almost  the  same  places.  That  will 
mean  another  set  of  borings. 

There  should  be  at  least  one  drinking  fountain 
where  the  ever-thirsty  public  can  be  refreshed. 
Few  people  who  have  not  been  obliged  to  face 
this  realize  that  not  a  day  goes  by  without  fre- 
quent requests  for  water.  On  each  floor  a  mop 
closet  should  be  provided  with  a  slop  sink  and 
running  water.  There  should  be  in  connection 
with  the  rooms  of  the  staff  a  chance  to  wash  the 
hands,  for  the  handling  of  documents  and  works 
of  art  makes  this  necessary.  The  provision  of 
a  toilet  here  also  is  a  desideratum.  In  the  case 
of  a  large  museum  a  men's  staff  room  and 
women's  staff  room  are  sometimes  provided,  and 
these  are  given  elaborate  toilet  arrangements. 
Perhaps  the  simplest  means  of  meeting  all  needs 
is  to  provide  two  bath  rooms  in  connection  with 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  61 

the  staff  offices  which  can  be  used  as  dressing 
rooms  if  desired.  A  public  rest  room  should  not 
be  overlooked.  Some  thought  must  be  given  to 
the  comfort  of  the  guards  and  janitors.  They 
will  need  lockers  in  which  to  keep  their  uniforms, 
and  a  dressing  room.  This  same  room  can  be 
used  for  their  lunch  room  and  should  be  pro- 
vided with  an  electric  plate  or  gas  ring  and  a 
sink,  so  that  coffee  or  other  beverages  may  be 
heated  and  bottles  washed.  They  will  undoubt- 
edly want  to  smoke  at  noon,  and  this  room  should 
therefore  be  so  situated  that  it  will  be  safe  to 
allow  this  and  also  so  that  it  can  be  properly  venti- 
lated without  blowing  the  smoke  into  the  halls 
of  the  museum.  The  public  smoking  room,  or 
smoking  room  for  the  staff,  should  be  entirely 
separate  from  this. 

HEAT  AND  VENTILATION 

For  some  unknown  reason  we  in  America  con- 
sider it  necessary  to  place  enormous  radiators  in 
the  middle  of  our  rooms  or  in  some  conspicuous 
place,  and  as  often  as  not  they  are  placed  on  the 
wall  which  is  the  most  available  for  exhibition 
purposes.  Experiments  conducted  in  Berlin  have 
been  carried  out  with  great  care  and  the  Kaiser 
Friedrich  Museum  is  now  heated  by  a  system  of 
radiators  placed  in  every  room  in  niches  in  the 


2.  M 


1&.5° 


15 


GLASS 
-CORK. 

PLASTER 

•WOODEN    SHEATHING 

•LINED  WITH  ASBESTOS 

115.5° 


15.5° 


15.7' 


15.7J 


15.7« 


15.7° 


2.  M 


15° 


15.5< 


5.7< 


l.M 


15.5( 


16° 


5.7( 


15.5' 


6° 


15.7C 


TEST  OF  HEAT  DISTRIBUTION  IN  KAISER  FRIEDRICH  MUSEUM  SYSTEM 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  63 

wall  and  covered  by  an  insulating  wall  which 
absolutely  prevents  both  the  loss  of  space  incident 
to  the  usual  method  and  the  overheating  of  the 
wall  at  one  point,  which  we  sometimes  find.  It 
may  be  interesting  to  those  who  are  about  to 
build  a  museum,  or  to  change  the  heating  in  some 
museum  already  built,  to  see  the  results  of  experi- 
ments made  abroad,  which  are  appended.  (See 
page  62.)  It  will  be  seen  from  this  that  the 
temperature  in  the  different  parts  of  the  room 
was  extremely  uniform,  slightly  colder  near  the 
floor  but  to  no  marked  degree  warmer  at  the  top 
of  the  room.  The  system  works  perfectly  in 
Germany  and  should  do  the  same  in  America. 
In  side-lighted  galleries,  radiators  may  be  placed 
under  the  windows  without  interfering  with  ex- 
hibition space.  In  building  a  museum,  the  first 
requisite  is  to  secure  good  light;  the  second,  to 
secure  available  wall  and  floor  space.  In  almost 
every  case  both  wall  and  floor  space  are  neces- 
sary. Radiators  placed  in  the  middle  of  a  room 
not  only  become  very  disagreeable  and  ugly 
pieces  of  furniture,  but  they  take  available  ex- 
hibition space.  Radiators  placed  in  front  of  the 
wall  render  useless  the  space  which  they  occupy 
and  make  the  wall  directly  above  them  unavailable 
for  exhibition.  There  is  no  class  of  objects  which 
can  stand  the  continued  heat.  An  interesting 


64  THE  MUSEUM 

article  on  this  subject  is  Die  Losung  der  Heiz- 
frage  bei  Gemaldegalerien  und  ahnlichen  Samm- 
lungsgebauden,  by  R.  Stegemann,  Museumskunde 
X,  page  133. 

We  have  not  yet  thoroughly  come  to  under- 
stand, either,  the  importance  of  proper  ventilation 
in  the  museum.  Ventilation  does  not  mean  merely 
provision  for  a  change  of  air.  It  means  that  no 
air  should  be  taken  into  the  museum  that  has  not 
been  screened  and  washed.  Any  one  who  doubts 
the  amount  of  dust  that  is  brought  in  by  air  can 
be  easily  convinced  by  once  being  taken  to  the 
intake  in  some  building  where  the  air  is  properly 
sifted.  The  system  most  commonly  in  vogue  is 
that  of  drawing  the  air  through  cheese-cloth 
screens.  Large  wooden  frames  are  provided, 
over  which  bags  made  of  cheese-cloth  are  passed. 
These  bags  are  scraped  one  day  and  changed  the 
next.  The  amount  of  dirt  which  has  accumulated 
on  both  sides  of  the  bag  is  so  great  that  it  seems 
incredible.  Another  system  is  that  of  using  ex- 
ceedingly fine  copper-wire  screens  over  which 
water  pours  continually.  The  air  passes  through 
this  screen  and  the  water  washes  off  the  dirt 
which  accumulates.  At  the  same  time  the  air  is 
supposed  to  receive  some  dampness.  This  system 
is  thoroughly  satisfactory  in  summer,  and  if  the 
air  is  not  damp  enough  already;  in  winter,  how- 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  65 

ever,  when  the  air  needs  to  be  heated  there  is  no 
advantage  in  this  more  costly  system,  for  the 
dampened  air  in  passing  over  the  hot  coils  is 
dried.  Another  system  is  usually  installed  pro- 
viding either  large  pans  of  water,  which  are 
placed  on  the  hot  coils,  or  a  very  fine  spray 
which  rises  with  the  warmed  air  into  the  gal- 
leries. 

Another  system  passes  the  air  through  sheets  of 
water  arranged  one  behind  another.  By  warming 
this  water  in  winter  the  air  is  warmed  and  moist- 
ened and  so  rises  to  the  galleries.  Some  such 
system  is  necessary  in  order  to  keep  the  humidity 
nearly  the  same  all  the  year  round.  A  tempera- 
ture of  sixty-five  degrees  to  sixty-eight  degrees  is 
right  for  museum  galleries.  Curiously  enough  the 
Directors  of  Italian  picture  galleries  find  it  im- 
possible to  heat  their  museums  to  the  same  degree 
that  can  be  done  in  London  without  injury  to 
their  paintings,  and  the  cause  of  this  is  undoubtedly 
the  difference  in  dampness  in  the  London  climate 
over  that  in  Italy. 

Another  very  important  fact  that  must  be 
borne  in  mind  is  the  necessity  of  keeping  the 
temperature  throughout  the  twenty-four  hours 
somewhere  near  the  same.  Where  European  gal- 
leries have  failed  has  usually  been  in  providing 
heat  only  during  the  day.  The  drop  in  tempera- 


66  THE  MUSEUM 

ture  during  the  night  has  done  great  harm  to 
objects  in  the  museum. 

Sometime  a  system  will  be  installed  and  oper- 
ated by  which  museums  can  be  cooled  in  summer 
and  warmed  in  winter,  and  the  humidity  kept 
practically  constant.  Such  a  system  has  been 
installed  in  one  of  our  great  museums,  but  it  has 
not  been  operating  long  enough  to  prove  how 
successful  it  may  be.  All  these  ideal  arrange- 
ments are  very  expensive  to  instal  and  still  more 
so  to  operate.  It  is  only  the  exceptional  museum 
in  this  country  that  has  a  budget  large  enough  to 
warrant  the  use  of  them.  Humidity  is  tested  in 
European  museums  by  hygrometers,  which  are 
fixed  to  the  wall  in  each  room.  In  this  country 
these  hygrometers  seem  to  be  unsuccessful,  per- 
haps because  they  are  not  watched  sufficiently 
closely,  and  perhaps  because  they  are  meddled 
with  by  the  public.  If  no  hygrometers  are  pro- 
vided in  the  rooms  some  person  in  authority 
should  test  the  air  at  least  once  a  day  in  order  to 
tell  whether  the  conditions  are  right  for  the  works 
of  art.  It  is  not  sufficient  for  us  to  provide  a 
place  where  beautiful  things  can  be  seen  to  ad- 
vantage. We  must  also  provide  sufficient  care 
for  those  things  so  that  future  generations  will 
not  be  deprived  of  their  enjoyment.  Ther- 
mometers of  some  kind  are  always  placed  in  the 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  67 

rooms.  Sometimes  a  thermostat  is  used.  Like  all 
mechanical  devices  it  does  not  always  work,  and 
must  be  supplemented  by  the  common  sense  of 
the  guardians  who  should  not  themselves  touch 
the  apparatus  but  simply  report  to  the  superin- 
tendent of  buildings  or  engineer. 

In  installing  a  ventilating  system  it  is  well  to 
remember  that  toilet  rooms  should  always  have 
direct  outdoor  ventilation,  the  smoking  room 
must  be  on  a  separate  duct  and  the  kitchen  and 
lunch  rooms  on  another.  The  odor  of  cooking 
in  a  museum  is  out  of  place,  but  where  the  lunch- 
room ventilator  opens  into  the  same  shaft  as  some 
of  the  galleries  there  will  always  be  a  smell  of 
food,  ventilating  experts  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing. 

It  is  advisable  also  to  have  the  lecture  room  on 
a  separate  circuit.  ( See  page  46. ) 

The  staff  rooms  should  always  be  provided  with 
windows  which  open,  and  radiators  for  heat,  and 
should  not  have  any  artificial  ventilation.  No 
such  system  is  satisfactory  to  live  with,  and  in- 
dividual preference  and  special  conditions  call  for 
separate  treatment.  Dust  and  variations  in 
humidity  will  not  matter  here,  but  the  possibility 
of  quickly  airing  off  the  smell  of  a  cleaning  com- 
pound or  of  ink  eradicator  will  make  a  great  dif- 
ference in  the  comfort  of  the  staff. 


68 


THE  MUSEUM 


HOW    MAY    DEFECTS    IN    EXISTING    BUILDINGS    BE 
REMEDIED  ? 

In  Europe  it  is  the  exception  for  the  building 
in  which  collections  are  housed  to  have  been  built 
purposely  for  a  museum,  and  in  this  country  also 
many  an  aspiring  institution  is  located  in  an  old 
dwelling  house  made  over.  The  chief  difficulties 
which  are  likely  to  confront  the  architect  are  con- 


FORMER 
'LEVEL  OF 

GLASS 
-PRESENT 

LEVEL  OF 

GLASS 


CHANGES  IN  DRESDEN  GALLERY 

cerned  with  the  height  of  the  rooms  and  the  quality 
of  the  light.  A  room  that  is  too  high  is  quite 
as  difficult  to  work  with  as  one  that  is  too  low, 
although  the  remedy  is  much  simpler.  Many  of 
the  older  European  museums  which  were  built 
with  enormously  high  rooms  have  been  found  to 
dwarf  the  pictures  to  such  an  extent  and  to  present 
such  an  ungainly  appearance  when  hung  accord- 
ing to  modern  taste  with  pictures  on  the  line 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  69 

of  the  eye  and  not  too  close  together,  that  it 
has  been  found  necessary  in  several  cases  to  lower 
the  inner  skylight.  The  problem  has  been  met  most 
successfully  in  Dresden,  where  the  old-fashioned 
very  high  rooms  have  been  cut  down  and  provided 
with  a  cove  ceiling.  (See  cut  page  68.)  This  gives 
a  large  surface  for  reflection,  which  if  painted  in 
some  light  color  is  a  great  addition  to  the  light 
which  comes  in  above.  The  curved  surface  not 
only  adds  to  the  intensity  of  the  light  but  makes 
the  division  of  the  walls  for  decorative  purposes 
much  simpler.  It  is  always  hard  to  handle  a  high 
wall,  as  a  too  great  expanse  of  color  is  trying 
and  gives  an  effect  of  height  which  is  exceedingly 
unpleasant.  The  experiments  made  in  various 
places  of  covering  the  lower  part  of  the  wall  with 
a  material,  say,  to  the  height  of  eight  feet,  and 
above  that  painting  a  band  or  frieze  in  a  lighter 
tint,  and  then  having  the  ceiling  in  a  third  tint, 
is  apt  to  give  more  or  less  the  effect  of  a  patch- 
work quilt.  The  expense  of  putting  in  a  false 
ceiling  at  a  lower  level  is  not  as  great  since  we 
have  been  able  to  build  with  steel  and  wire  net- 
ting, as  it  used  to  be  in  the  days  when  wooden 
beams  or  expensive  stonework  had  to  be  used. 

The  problem  of  raising  the  ceiling  in  a  room 
which  is  too  low  is  much  more  difficult.  Much 
can  be  done  by  the  interior  decorator  to  improve 


70  THE  MUSEUM 

the  looks  of  the  room  that  is  too  low,  but  there 
have  been  certain  unfortunate  mistakes  in  some 
of  our  well-known  museums  where  there  was  no 
remedy  except  to  raise  the  roof.  If  it  is  possible 
to  use  these  low  rooms  for  small  objects,  they 
are  very  delightful  and  have  a  friendly  appear- 
ance which  never  can  result  in  rooms  of  the  pro- 
portion of  those  on  the  main  floor  in  the  Brooklyn 
Institute,  for  example.  Inadvisable  as  it  is  in 
building  a  new  gallery  to  provide  only  north  light, 
it  is  sometimes  necessary  where  a  gallery  is  too 
low  and  too  hot.  Where  a  room  has  been  pro- 
vided with  an  ordinary  skylight,  the  heat  in  sum- 
mer is  often  so  intense  that  something  has  to  be 
done.  In  that  case  it  is  sometimes  possible  to 
build  a  saw-tooth  skylight  admitting  only  north 
light.  This  will  obviate  the  difficulty  by  excluding 
the  sun,  but  gives  a  cold  and  unattractive  light 
except  for  certain  modern  pictures.  Another 
solution  which  can  be  used  in  certain  places  is 
that  of  providing  the  so-called  Monitor  light, 
which  has  been  worked  out  by  Professor  Licht- 
wark  in  Hamburg  following  the  scheme  originally 
used  in  England.  These  Monitor  or  lantern 
lights  are  valuable  especially  in  cases  where  the 
skylight  has  been  made  too  close  to  the  ceiling 
glass  and  where  there  is  not  enough  ventilation. 
The  form  of  the  lantern  in  itself  makes  possible 


THE  ARCHITECTURAL  PLAN  71 

a  much  greater  amount  of  ventilation  through  the 
skylight  and  the  fact  that  it  has  a  solid  roof 
makes  both  the  glare  and  the  heat  admitted  less 
intense. 

In  the  case  of  rooms  which  are  by  nature  dark, 
where  the  diffusion  of  light  is  poor,  something 
may  be  done  by  the  use  of  prismatic  glass,  al- 
though its  makers  no  longer  claim  for  it  the 
tremendous  power  it  was  thought  to  have  when 
first  discovered.  One  of  the  most  interesting  uses 
of  prism  glass  may  be  seen  in  the  Fogg  Art 
Museum  at  Cambridge,  Mass.  There  it  is  used 
as  a  supplement  to  the  glass  in  the  ceiling  placed 
at  an  angle  to  it  and  diffusing  the  light  in  certain 
sections  of  the  room.  The  problem  there  was 
that  the  light  was  too  great  in  the  front  of  the 
room  and  too  little  in  the  back.  The  diffusing 
glass  placed  at  an  angle  has  corrected  this,  so 
that  now  the  light  is  evenly  distributed  through- 
out. Intensity  of  light  is  one  of  the  most  difficult 
things  to  gauge  with  the  naked  eye  and  a  prism 
glass  will  invariably  give  the  effect  of  darkening 
the  room  when  used  in  side-light  windows,  from 
the  fact  that  the  observer  cannot  look  through  it. 
It  has  been  claimed  that  the  intensity  of  the  light 
admitted  through  prism  glass  is  the  same  as  that 
admitted  through  ordinary  glass,  but  the  diffusion 
is  much  greater.  Thus,  a  room  opening  on  a  small 


72  THE  MUSEUM 

court  or  a  side  street,  where  the  only  good  light 
is  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  window,  can 
be  made  usable  by  supplying  a  glass  which  will 
deflect  downward  rays  and  turn  them  into  the 
room. 


CHAPTER  III 

PREPARATION  FOR  THE  COLLECTIONS 
INTERIOR  DECORATION 

THE  finish  of  the  walls  in  the  galleries  will 
to  a  certain  extent  determine  what  may 
be  done  in  the  way  of  decoration.    Where 
marble  or  stone  facings  or  wooden  panelling  is 
used  no  further  decoration  is  needed.    If  the  walls 
are  of  plaster  there  are  several  methods  which 
may  be  considered;  i.  to  leave  the  plaster  rough 
and  tint  it;  2.  to  leave  the  plaster  smooth  and 
paint  it;  3.  to  stretch  a  material  over  it;  4.  to 
sheathe  it  in  wood  and  cover  with  a  textile. 

If  any  of  the  first  three  is  used,  paintings 
shown  in  the  room  must  be  hung  from  a  rod  or 
bar.  (Vide  infra,  page  121.)  With  the  last, 
however,  they  can  be  suspended  on  hooks  or  nails 
driven  into  the  wall. 

The  rough  plaster  wall,  tinted,  is  the  cheapest 
method  of  all  to  use  in  decoration  and  has  numer- 
ous advantages.  It  is  much  to  be  preferred  to 

73 


74  THE  MUSEUM 

smooth  plaster  in  that  it  gives  a  slight  uneven- 
ness  of  surface  which  is  a  distinct  advantage 
because  of  the  vibration  of  color  thus  attained. 
Water  color,  while  it  does  not  last  as  long  as 
oil  paint,  is  so  much  cheaper  and  quicker  to  put 
on  that  it  becomes  possible  to  do  over  a  gallery 
after  a  year  or  two  without  any  more  outlay  than 
oil  paint  in  the  beginning  would  have  necessitated. 
If  a  spatter  is  used,  charming  effects  may  be  ob- 
tained at  very  little  cost.  This  method  has  been 
tried  in  various  places  but  has  nowhere  succeeded 
so  well  as  in  the  Minneapolis  Institute  of  Arts. 
Here  a  flat  ground  tint  is  used,  then  a  large  spatter 
of  another  color  and  finally  a  small  spatter  of 
a  third.  As  an  example,  one  room  has  a  reduced 
white  background,  a  large  spatter  of  a  lilac  or 
pale  lavender,  and  a  small  spatter  of  golden  yel- 
low. These  colors  are  none  of  them  distinctly 
seen  but  the  general  effect  is  of  an  interesting 
surface  which  forms  a  good  background,  espe- 
cially for  the  oriental  collections  shown  in  the 
room.  Oil  paint  should,  of  course,  always  be 
used  near  stairways  or  where  there  is  a  chance 
of  its  being  much  handled,  as,  if  dirty,  it  can  be 
washed.  [The  hand  rail  of  a  staircase  should 
always  be  of  a  material  that  can  be  cleaned. 
Sandstone  is  inappropriate  for  this  purpose.] 
Should  method  three  or  four  be  used  the  dis- 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  COLLECTIONS    75 

cussion  of  textiles  which  follows  will  apply.  Four 
is  by  far  the  most  satisfactory,  convenient,  but 
expensive  method  for  use  in  picture  galleries  and 
may  be  rendered  as  safe  from  fire  danger  as  any 
by  the  use  of  asbestos  covering  for  the  wooden 
backing  or  by  impregnating  the  wood  with  one  of 
the  fire -proof  chemicals  placed  on  the  market  for 
this  purpose.  If  this  same  chemical  is  to  be  used 
on  the  textile,  it  will  affect  the  color;  a  small  piece, 
therefore,  should  be  tested  before  the  gallery  is 
hung.  Care  should  be  taken,  however,  that  such 
a  chemical,  if  used,  is  not  of  a  character  to  injure 
the  works  of  art  which  will  be  placed  near  it.  In 
certain  galleries  of  the  Chicago  Art  Institute  as- 
bestos paper  has  been  used  without  any  textile 
above  it,  simply  tinted  in  water  color,  and  has 
proved  a  perfectly  unobjectionable  temporary 
makeshift. 

TEXTILES 

What  are  the  requisites  in  a  good  wall  cover- 
ing? First  of  all,  it  must  be  adapted  to  the 
objects  for  which  it  serves  as  background;  second, 
it  must  be  durable;  third,  it  must  be  of  a  suffi- 
ciently close  weave  so  that  the  dirt  will  not  catch ; 
fourth,  it  must  not  show  nail  holes;  and  fifth,  it 
must  not  fade,  or,  if  it  does  fade,  it  must  fade  to 
some  agreeable  tone. 


76  THE  MUSEUM 

In  regard  to  the  first  requisite,  one  must  choose 
a  material  which  will  have  something  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  period  to  which  the  objects  belong. 
In  this  country,  with  our  admiration  for  oriental 
things,  Japanese  grass-cloth  has  been  considered 
a  suitable  wall  covering  for  use  anywhere,  but  as 
a  background  for  Italian  pictures  of  the  fifteenth 
or  sixteenth  century  it  is  inappropriate.  Yet 
there  is  something  to  be  said  in  its  favor.  There 
is  a  richness  of  tone  in  the  grass-cloth  which 
harmonizes  well  with  the  gold  frames  and  rich 
colors  of  the  Italian  paintings,  but  if  we  are 
to  see  these  paintings  in  anything  like  their 
original  surroundings  we  must  see  them  with  a 
background  either  of  some  rich  wood-work  or  a 
silk  brocade. 

Probably  burlap  has  been  more  used  than  any 
other  material  in  our  galleries,  partly  because  of 
its  loose  texture  and  partly  because  of  its  cheap- 
ness. The  experiment  of  painting  the  walls  under 
the  burlap  has  been  tried  in  different  places. 
This  gives  a  varied  effect  that  makes  the  material 
much  more  attractive,  and  burlap  should  never 
be  used  unless  some  such  expedient  is  resorted  to, 
as  the  dead  tone  of  the  natural  color  is  monotonous. 
The  green  burlap  so  often  used  fades  atrociously, 
as  many  museums  know  to  their  sorrow.  This 
fabric,  like  all  coarse  materials  of  this  character, 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  COLLECTIONS    77 

collects  dust  very  rapidly  and  is  hard  to  clean. 
It  may,  however,  be  painted  over  to  freshen  it 
when  it  becomes  soiled,  although  this  is  not  re- 
commended, as  the  material  shrinks  unevenly  and 
is  apt  to  hang  in  festoons  after  being  painted. 
Beware  of  gilding  burlap,  as  has  sometimes  been 
done,  for  it  is  bad  taste  to  gild  so  coarse  and  cheap 
a  fabric.  In  figuring  the  cost  of  burlap  it  must 
be  taken  into  consideration  that  the  price  of  hang- 
ing is  the  same  for  a  cheap  material  as  for  an 
expensive  one,  and,  therefore,  the  initial  cost  will 
differ  merely  in  the  price  of  the  goods.  For- 
tunately, there  are  many  rich  men  interested  in 
our  museums  who  are  glad  to  make  up  the  differ- 
ence in  price.  Certain  other  inexpensive  materials 
are  on  the  market  such  as  homespun,  monk's 
cloth,  friar's  cloth,  etc.  These  are  all  of  a  closer 
weave  than  burlap  and  less  suggestive  of  potato 
sacks.  The  homespun  makes  a  particularly  good 
background  for  prints.  Some  of  the  sun-dure 
materials  are  also  attractive  in  color  and  weave, 
although  they  need  to  be  lined  for  wall  coverings. 
In  the  slightly  more  expensive  materials  there  are 
some  good  jutes  on  the  market  which  come  in 
pale  grays  and  fawn  color  and  which  may  be 
dyed  according  to  taste.  Some  of  these  are  very 
attractive,  especially  where  the  pattern  is  small 
and  inconspicuous.  They  make  particularly  good 


78  THE  MUSEUM 

backgrounds  for  certain  XVIII  and  XIX  century 
objects. 

If  the  wall  is  sheathed  with  wood,  the  textile 
whatever  it  may  be,  will  need  to  be  lined,  other- 
wise the  dirt  will  collect  in  the  cracks  of  the  wood 
and  gradually  show  through  in  streaks.  A  cotton 
lining  is  best,  but  if  too  expensive,  paper  may  be 
used. 

Pattern  is  a  very  serious  consideration.  A 
certain  amount  of  inequality  in  the  weave  of  the 
material  enhances  its  value  as  a  background  be- 
cause the  light  and  shade  that  comes  with  an 
uneven  surface  makes  the  color  less  constant,  and, 
therefore  adapted  to  a  larger  number  of  objects, 
but  where  the  pattern  is  too  large  it  becomes 
obtrusive  and  suggests  the  landscape  wall-paper 
used  by  our  Colonial  ancestors  which  was  never 
meant  as  a  background  but  which,  on  the  con- 
trary, in  itself  decorated  the  room. 

Velvet  makes  an  interesting  wall  covering,  but 
it  is  a  great  care,  especially  if  exhibitions  are  to 
be  changed  frequently.  Should  the  museum 
Director  choose  a  velvet,  he  must  be  careful  that 
the  pile  is  short,  as  otherwise  the  marks  made  by 
the  frames  will  be  very  conspicuous.  Also,  a  vel- 
vet with  a  short  pile  is  easier  to  keep  clean,  as  the 
dust  clings  to  a  long  pile  and  is  almost  impossible 
to  brush  off.  A  velvet  wall  covering  should  be 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  COLLECTIONS    79 

brushed  or  cleaned  with  vacuum  at  least  every  six 
months  in  an  ordinarily  clean  city  and  oftener 
where  the  air  is  dust-laden. 

Among  the  most  attractive  backgrounds,  espe- 
cially for  ancient  pictures,  are  the  reproductions 
of  the  old  Italian  or  French  brocades.  These 
reproductions  are  comparatively  inexpensive  and 
may  be  had  from  the  manufacturers  in  Italy.  If 
carefully  chosen  as  to  pattern  and  color  they  are 
satisfactory,  well  woven  and  durable.  They  may 
be  had  in  linen,  silk  and  cotton,  or  pure  silk,  as 
desired.  Where  it  is  possible,  these  materials 
should  be  bought  directly  of  the  Italian  manu- 
facturers, as  our  American  buyers  usually  procure 
their  stock  in  France,  thus  necessitating  payment 
of  double  duty.  The  beauty  and  durability  of  these 
fabrics  is  proved  by  the  wall  coverings  in  the 
Vatican  Pinacoteca  and  the  Casino  Borghese  in 
Rome.  Certain  of  the  German  museums  have 
been 'successful  in  the  use  of  stencilled  wall  cover- 
ings. In  this  case  an  inexpensive  Arras  cloth  in 
plain  color  is  put  on  the  walls.  A  pattern  is  then 
added  by  means  of  a  stencil  and  shaded  in  such 
a  way  as  to  imitate  old  brocade.  (See  Museums- 
kunde,  vol.  I,  p.  i,  Bode,  Das  Kaiser  Fried- 
rich  Museum  in  Berlin.)  At  the  Kaiser  Friedrich 
Museum  in  Berlin,  for  instance,  some  of  these 
imitations  are  remarkably  good.  This  is,  how- 


8o  THE  MUSEUM 

ever,  a  subterfuge  and  one  which  is  not  wholly 
justifiable.  The  reason  it  was  done  in  Germany 
was  that  it  was  found  difficult  to  obtain  a  German 
made  silk  brocade  which  was  fast  color. 

Care  should  be  taken  that  the  material  used 
has  no  wool  in  it,  as  few  museums  are  free  from 
moths,  and  the  greatest  care  must  always  be  taken 
to  eliminate  any  possibility  of  their  getting  in. 
Frequently  flannel  or  cashmere  is  used  as  a  back- 
ground in  cases  and  occasionally  the  woolen  cloth 
used  in  making  soldiers'  uniforms  has  been  con- 
sidered a  proper  and  safe  background  for  a  case. 
Nothing  attracts  the  moths  more  quickly.  If  felt 
is  needed  a  cotton  or  linen  felt  should  be  chosen 
and  never  a  woolen  one.  There  are  many  charm- 
ing wall  coverings  that  are  made  with  some  woolen 
threads.  These  must  be  excluded  from  a  museum, 
as  the  danger  is  too  great.  With  the  impossi- 
bility of  eliminating  dust  is  bound  to  come  the 
presence  of  the  moths,  who  love  dust  and  seek  it. 

COLOR 

One  of  the  most  fascinating  studies  which  the 
museum  director  must  undertake  is  that  of  color. 
On  this  subject  much  has  been  written  and  good 
authority  may  be  cited  for  almost  any  choice  that 
may  be  made.  One  of  the  most  interesting  articles 
on  this  subject  is  that  written  by  Professor  Dede- 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  COLLECTIONS    81 

kam  of  the  Central  Museum  in  Trondhjem, 
Norway.  The  substance  of  this  paper  was  pre- 
sented to  the  English  Museum  Association  at  one 
of  their  annual  meetings.  Museums  Journal, 
Vol.  IV,  p.  173.  See  also  introduction  to  the 
guide  to  the  Parma  Gallery,  by  Corrado  Ricci. 
Color  and  its  Application,  by  M.  Luckiesch.  New 
York.  1915. 

Red  is  beginning  to  be  used  again  in  some  of 
our  galleries.  Some  twenty  years  ago  when  Cor- 
rado Ricci  was  doing  over  the  Brera,  in  Milan, 
he  used  a  green  which  has  since  become  known 
among  museum  men  as  "Ricci  green."  This  was 
so  much  in  vogue  at  one  time  and  it  was  con- 
sidered so  perfect  as  a  background  that  almost 
all  of  the  older  museums  became  imbued  with  the 
desire  to  tear  off  the  beef-blood  red  in  fashion 
fifty  years  ago  and  be  up-to-date  by  using  what 
they  supposed  to  be  the  "Ricci  green."  The 
original  color  in  the  Brera  has  faded  to  such  an 
extent  now  that  almost  any  shade  of  green  may 
be  called  "Ricci  green"  with  impunity.  Un- 
doubtedly certain  shades  of  green  are  more  becom- 
ing to  paintings  than  almost  any  shade  of  red, 
but  it  is  impossible  to  generalize  in  regard  to 
color.  A  very  important  point,  however,  that 
should  be  taken  into  consideration  is  the  fact  that 
to  the  average  museum  visitor  a  series  of  gal- 


82  THE  MUSEUM 

leries  in  which  the  background  colors  are  made 
to  harmonize  from  room  to  room  is  much  less 
tiresome  than  a  similar  series  of  rooms  in  which 
the  backgrounds  are  all  of  the  same  color. 

Careful  study  should  be  made  of  the  paintings 
that  are  to  go  in  any  one  room  before  the  color 
is  selected.  Where  the  collection  is  growing 
rapidly,  certain  rooms  should  be  devoted  to  cer- 
tain schools,  and  a  study  should  be  made  of  each 
school  with  a  view  to  determining  the  color  which 
will  be  most  successful  as  a  background  for  that 
school.  In  this  connection,  the  environment  for 
which  the  pictures  were  painted  should  be  con- 
sidered, as  important  hints  may  be  obtained  from 
such  a  study.  If  a  color  characteristic  of  a  period 
is  to  be  used,  however,  it  must  not  be  too  vivid, 
as  otherwise  it  will  clash  with  the  objects,  all  of 
which  have  faded  with  time. 

In  studying  any  treatise  on  color  of  back- 
grounds, it  is  necessary  to  consider  the  fact  that 
the  light  in  the  different  countries  varies  in  in- 
tensity, and  therefore  a  color  which  is  beautiful 
in  Italy  is  not  necessarily  equally  suitable  in  the 
United  States.  Few  of  our  northern  cities  have 
at  any  time  of  the  year  the  brilliant,  glowing, 
penetrating  sunshine  that  is  a  characteristic  of 
Italian  weather.  Even  rainy  days  in  Italy  are  not 
as  dark  as  rainy  days  in  the  North,  and  the  chief 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  COLLECTIONS    83 

necessity  in  an  Italian  Museum  is  to  exclude  the 
abundant  light.  In  Germany,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  prevalent  winter  weather  is  gray  and  foggy 
and  the  light  in  summer  never  becomes  exceed- 
ingly brilliant.  A  color,  therefore,  in  Italy  will 
look  much  brighter  than  that  same  color  in  Ger- 
many. The  position  of  the  gallery  and  the  light 
which  enters  will  also  tend  to  make  the  same 
color  look  different  in  different  rooms.  Thus,  for 
instance,  in  Berlin,  in  the  Kaiser  Friedrich 
Museum,  almost  all  the  side-lit  cabinets  to  the 
south  are  covered  with  the  same  green  velvet,  but 
the  color  seems  quite  varied  in  the  different  rooms 
even  though  they  all  have  approximately  the  same 
exposure.  In  this  country  most  of  our  museums 
are  so  situated  that  the  light  which  they  receive 
is  about  half-way  in  intensity  between  the  light 
of  Germany  and  the  light  of  Italy.  What  is  true 
of  the  German  light  is  also  true  of  light  in  France 
and  in  England,  with  the  exception  of  London 
and  Liverpool,  where  the  dust  and  soot  in  the  air 
further  increase  the  grayness.  In  Sweden  and 
Norway  and  other  northern  countries  the  light 
is  much  more  nearly  like  ours  in  America,  but 
even  here  it  would  be  a  doubtful  experiment  to 
copy  directly  any  color  used  in  a  museum  without 
first  trying  it  in  this  country.  Successful  back- 
grounds are  rare,  as  we  have  already  said,  nor  can 


84  THE  MUSEUM 

the  same  color  be  used  with  equally  good  effect 
for  sculpture  and  painting. 

Of  the  many  successfully  decorated  galleries  to 
be  seen  in  Europe,  among  the  most  typical  is  the 
new  picture  gallery  of  the  Vatican,  where  a  deep 
earthy-green    moire    covers    the    walls    and    har- 
monizes delightfully  with  the  Italian  walnut  of 
the  woodwork.    Perhaps  no  more  successful  single 
example   of  gallery   decoration   exists   than   this. 
The  color  brings  out  all  the  most  beautiful  tones 
in   the    pictures,    the    design    is    enough    to    give 
variety,  but  not  enough  to  be  disturbing.     The 
whole  atmosphere  is  that  of  refined  simplicity,  a 
very  rare   attribute   of   a   picture   gallery.      One 
European  gallery  made  the  tremendous  mistake 
of  thinking  that  a  color  which  did  not  appear  in 
any  of  the  pictures  would  be  the  most  successful 
background.      The    room    contains   paintings   by 
Rubens,   Snyders,    and  other   Flemish   artists   of 
that  time,   in  whose  pictures   red  predominates. 
The  color  chosen  for  the  walls  was  also  a  red, 
but  one  which  did  not  appear  in  any  of  the  paint- 
ings.    The   effect  was  terrible.     Almost   any  of 
the  reds  used  in  the  pictures  would  have  been 
better. 

In  a  certain  German  museum  there  are  two 
rooms  which  will  serve  as  illustrations  of  the  good 
and  the  bad  in  the  use  of  daring  colors  for  back- 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  COLLECTIONS    85 

grounds.  One  is  a  room  hung  with  a  cerise  satin 
which  has  a  blinding  and  dazzling  effect  upon  the 
eyes  of  the  visitor.  No  one  who  has  seen  it  could 
ever  forget  it.  To  make  the  effect  worse,  the 
room  is  top-lighted  so  that  the  glare  upon  the 
lustrous  surface  of  the  satin  adds  to  the  brilliancy 
of  the  color  and  one  finds  that  after  looking  at 
one  or  two  of  the  really  beautiful  objects  dis- 
played in  the  room,  one  is  seeing  green  spots  and 
feeling  so  faint  that  one  moves  quickly  away. 
Equally  daring,  but  far  more  successful  is  the  use 
of  color  in  the  second  room  where  a  soft  violet 
about  the  color  of  little  wood  violets  has  been 
used  as  a  background  for  some  XVIII  century 
Italian  paintings,  Canalettos,  Guardis,  etc.  Never 
have  pictures  of  this  period  appeared  to  such 
wonderful  advantage.  The  soft  pearly  tints  of 
the  sky  and  water,  which  ordinarily  look  so  gray, 
against  this  color  become  transparent,  opalescent, 
vital,  and  the  atmosphere  of  Venice  lives  again. 
Compare  these  with  other  Canalettos  which  have 
been  placed  on  a  dull,  dust-colored  background, 
where  they  seem  to  have  lost  all  power  of  expres- 
sion, and  it  is  easy  to  judge  of  the  influence  that 
the  background  has  on  the  picture.  The  Rubens 
room  in  the  Louvre  in  Paris  is  by  common  consent 
one  of  the  best  examples  of  a  room  decorated 
for  a  special  purpose. 


86  THE  MUSEUM 

Considering  the  success  with  which  reduced 
white  has  been  used  in  the  rooms  of  the  German 
primitives  in  the  Alte  Pinakothek  in  Munich,  it 
is  rather  remarkable  that  this  color  has  not  been 
more  in  vogue  in  this  country.  One  of  the  few 
instances  where  it  has  been  successfully  used  is 
in  the  rooms  devoted  to  the  study  series  of  paint- 
ings in  the  Evans  Wing  of  the  Boston  Museum. 
Here  the  rough  plaster  has  been  left  in  its  natural 
color,  which  is  a  reduced  white.  Another  room 
where  this  color  has  been  used  is  the  gallery  for 
paintings  in  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Cambridge, 
but  here  the  north  light  makes  the  color  appear 
somewhat  cold. 

A  word  of  warning  is,  perhaps,  not  amiss  in 
regard  to  samples.  Any  color  depends  so  largely 
upon  the  light  in  the  room  in  which  it  is  to  be 
used  that  it  should  be  tried  out  with  a  large  sample 
actually  on  the  walls  of  the  room  before  any 
decision  is  made  in  regard  to  it.  v  Wherever  pos- 
sible, also,  one  of  the  pictures  which  is  to  go  in 
the  room  should  be  placed  against  the  color  to  try 
the  effect.  A  certain  wall  covering  which  has  been 
used  recently  in  this  country  which,  in  the  sample, 
is  a  lovely  green,  on  the  walls  of  the  room  in 
which  it  is  hung  appears  much  too  brilliant.  An- 
other green  which  in  the  sample  looks  rather 
unattractive,  as  a  background  is  one  of  the  best. 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  COLLECTIONS    87 

In  the  use  of  textiles  for  wall  coverings  many 
museum  Directors  have  been  disappointed  to  find 
that  the  color  faded  very  rapidly  after  being  put 
on  the  wall.  To  offset  any  such  misfortune,  it 
is  only  necessary  to  cut  off  a  small  piece  of  the 
material  to  be  used  and  to  expose  it  to  strong 
sunlight  for  a  week  or  two.  By  comparing  this 
small  piece  with  the  larger  sample  a  tendency  to 
fade  can  easily  be  discovered. 

It  has  generally  been  conceded  that  for  sculp- 
ture in  marble  a  warm  darkish  tone  is  much  more 
agreeable  than  a  cold  light  tone.  Here  we  have 
to  deal  with  a  cold  light  surface,  in  which  the 
shadows  are  all-important.  If  we  can  place  it 
in  such  a  way  that  it  will  receive  a  warm  light 
and  be  surrounded  by  a  color  which  will  make 
the  shadows  darker,  we  shall  have  best  attained 
our  object.  Terra  cotta  figures,  on  the  other  hand, 
already  have  a  considerable  amount  of  warmth 
and  it  is  not  well  to  place  them  against  too  strong 
a  color.  Bronzes,  being  by  nature  dark,  look 
well  against  a  larger  variety  of  backgrounds  than 
marble  or  terra  cottas,  yet  here,  too,  care  must  be 
taken  that  the  color  is  not  too  light,  as  otherwise 
the  contrast  will  be  too  sharp.  The  red  color  used 
as  a  background  in  the  Naples  Museum  in  the  room 
of  the  Farnese  Bull  has  been  highly  praised  as  an 
excellent  color  for  sculpture,  its  warm  and  glowing 


88  THE  MUSEUM 

tone  enlivening  the  cold  marble.  A  more  at- 
tractive room  is  the  small  gallery  in  the  Terme 
Museum  in  Rome,  where  the  Fanciulla  d'Anzio 
stands.  This  is  hung  with  a  blue  cloth,  according 
to  classical  precedent,  which  may  be  variously  de- 
scribed according  to  the  nomenclature  in  fashion, 
as  Nattier  blue  or  old  blue.  The  warm,  creamy 
tone  of  the  marble  is  particularly  beautiful  against 
this  cool  background. 

A  similar  color  is  the  Gothic  blue  used  with 
much  success  in  the  Minneapolis  Institute  of 
Arts  where,  as  a  background  for  wooden  sculp- 
ture, tapestries  and  paintings  shown  together,  it 
has  been  much  praised.  It  is  difficult  to  find  a 
color  which  will  show  off  equally  well  a  collection 
of  miscellaneous  objects.  An  atmospheric  blue, 
such  as  that  described  as  Gothic  blue  above,  and 
the  blue  used  in  the  Altman  collection  at  the  Met- 
ropolitan Museum  in  New  York  are  very  effective. 
There  is  also  a  gray-brown  which  was  used  in  the 
Renaissance  rooms  at  the  Minneapolis  Institute 
of  Arts  which  has  similar  properties. 

OTHER    BACKGROUNDS 

Another  background  which  has  been  used  suc- 
cessfully for  paintings  is  wooden  panelling,  such 
as  may  be  seen  in  the  rooms  containing  the  Ger- 
man and  Italian  primitives  in  the  Evans  Wing 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  COLLECTIONS    89 

of  the  Boston  Museum.  Here  the  wood  is  oak, 
slightly  stained  but  not  polished.  In  the  central 
cupola  room  of  the  Dresden  Pinakothek,  a  very 
elaborate  panelling  of  some  dark  wood,  perhaps 
walnut,  has  been  used.  This  is  darker  in  color 
and  forms  an  admirable  foil  for  the  gold  of  the 
frames  and  the  jewel-like  colors  of  the  wonderful 
paintings  shown  there. 

In  the  long  tapestry  gallery  connecting  the 
Evans  Wing  with  the  main  building  of  the  Boston 
Museum  the  walls  have  been  lined  with  blocks  of 
travertine  brought  from  the  neighborhood  of 
Rome.  The  effect  is  delightful.  There  is  a  cer- 
tain warmth  of  tone  in  the  travertine  and  an  un- 
evenness  of  surface  that  make  a  beautiful  back- 
ground for  the  tapestries  hung  in  this  hall.  A 
similar  use  of  stone  may  be  seen  in  some  of  the 
galleries  of  the  Kaiser  Friedrich  Museum  in 
Berlin. 

FLOORS 

The  question  of  floors  is  a  very  varied  one  and 
leaves  much  to  the  taste  of  the  individual  museum 
Director.  It  has  usually  been  considered  that  in 
the  main  entrance  hall  and  in  the  corridors  on 
the  ground  floor  marble  is  the  most  appropriate; 
this  particularly  because  marble  can  be  easily 
washed.  The  marble  to  be  used  varies,  according 


90  THE  MUSEUM 

to  the  amount  of  money  at  the  disposal  of  the 
building  committee,  but  one  of  the  most  attrac- 
tive floors  is  that  of  Tennessee  marble.  The 
finish  is  important,  the  so-called  "honed"  surface 
being  the  best.  A  polished  surface  which  reflects 
the  light  is  undesirable  and  gives  one  the  feeling 
of  being  in  a  Roman  bath.  An  illustration  of 
this  may  be  found  in  the  Glyptothek  in  Copen- 
hagen. The  rich  materials  here  used  no  longer 
form  a  background  for  the  beautiful  statues  that 
are  shown  in  this  building,  but  instead  overwhelm 
one  with  their  grandeur  and  importance  and 
above  all  with  the  myriad  reflections  which  come 
from  every  side,  thrown  off  by  the  polished  marble. 
In  this  connection  it  may  be  said  that  a  white 
marble  is  even  more  trying  than  a  colored  marble 
because  the  whiteness  adds  to  the  reflections  a 
glare  that  is  most  objectionable.  A  soft  gray  or 
monochrome  should  be  selected,  both  on  this  ac- 
count and  because  it  will  show  dirt  less.  All  the 
corridors  that  are  most  used  and  the  stairs  should 
be  finished  in  some  material  that  can  be  easily 
washed,  as  otherwise  the  tracking  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  people  will  give  a  most  unsightly  appear- 
ance. An  ordinary  limestone  wears  off  in  dust 
much  more  quickly  than  the  harder  and  firmer 
grained  marble.  In  this  connection,  as  well  as 
in  other  points  to  be  considered  in  the  building, 


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PREPARATION  FOR  THE  COLLECTIONS    91 

it  is  necessary  for  the  museum  Director  to  re- 
member that  the  function  of  the  museum  is  to 
form  a  good  setting  for  the  objects  in  the  collec- 
tions and  not  to  be  in  itself  more  interesting  or 
more  beautiful  than  its  contents. 

Tiled  floors  have  been  used  rather  freely  in 
some  of  our  museums,  and  in  the  National 
Museum  in  Munich  the  attempt  has  been  made 
to  have  the  floor  representative  of  the  period; 
thus,  a  room  containing  Roman  remains  is  fin- 
ished with  a  sort  of  terazzo.  The  room  with 
Romanesque  and  Byzantine  silver  has  a  tiled 
floor.  The  Gothic  room  has  also  a  tiled  floor  but 
the  tiles  are  of  a  different  pattern.  In  the  Boston 
Museum  the  corridors  in  the  main  building  are 
tiled,  but  the  tiles  have  been  laid  in  such  a  way 
that  there  are  little  grooves  between  each  of  them. 
This  makes  a  roughness  which  not  only  hurts 
the  feet  but  makes  the  wheeling  of  a  truck  both 
difficult  and  dangerous  to  the  objects  upon  it. 
If  tiles  are  used  they  should  be  laid  flat  and  as 
smooth  as  possible.  The  advantages  in  a  tiled 
floor  are:  i.  it  is  washable;  2.  it  is  cheaper  than 
marble;  3.  it  reflects  the  light  very  little;  4.  it 
sheds  the  dust  easily;  5.  it  is  more  easily  repaired. 
The  terazzo  floor  is  liable  to  crack  with  changes 
of  temperature  or  slight  shifting  of  a  building,  and 
should  be  avoided.  Concrete  is  the  cheapest  but 


92  THE  MUSEUM 

is  hard  to  walk  upon  and  should  always  be  painted, 
as  otherwise  it  is  impossible  to  keep  it  clean. 

The  most  agreeable  floor  to  walk  upon  is  cork 
tiling.  The  process  has  not  been  sufficiently  per- 
fected yet  to  be  thoroughly  dependable,  however. 
Some  treatment  will  doubtless  soon  be  invented 
which  will  preserve  the  surface  and  render  it 
more  durable.  It  is  noiseless  and  unobtrusive  in 
coloring  and  very  restful  to  stand  upon.  Hard- 
wood floors  are  useful  and  agreeable,  and  the 
museum  visitor  will  always  be  grateful  to  the 
architect  who  has  provided  them.  In  order  to 
make  these  fire-proof,  the  parquet  is  laid  in  mastic 
cement.  This  black  liquid,  containing  a  certain 
amount  of  creosote,  is  poured  hot  upon  the  con- 
crete and  the  little  wooden  blocks  are  laid  in  it 
without  nails.  This  device  holds  the  floor  firmly 
in  place  and  there  is  little  danger  of  the  seams 
opening  up  or  of  its  becoming  uneven.  If  the 
blocks  are  not  laid  directly  in  the  mastic  they  are 
apt  to  become  loose  with  time.  The  mastic  also 
helps  to  deaden  the  noise  of  footsteps.  In  using 
a  hardwood  floor,  it  is  well,  if  possible,  to  lay  it 
in  a  pattern  with  small  blocks,  as  where  the  floor 
is  laid  without  a  pattern,  using  long  strips,  there 
is  found  to  be  more  wear  and  tear  in  certain 
places  than  in  others  and  it  is  more  difficult  to 
replace  a  worn  patch  in  a  floor  laid  in  this  man- 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  COLLECTIONS    93 

ner  than  where  there  is  a  definite  pattern  which 
permits  taking  out  a  small  portion  and  laying  new 
pieces  in  that  place.  Only  one  kind  of  wood 
should  be  used  in  a  room  and  the  grain  should 
be  as  nearly  matched  as  possible,  as  more  than 
one  color  in  a  floor  is  disturbing.  Laying  floors 
with  a  pattern  in  this  way  has  another  advantage 
in  that  it  gives  a  variety  in  passing  from  room 
to  room  that  is  most  agreeable. 

As  for  the  finish  of  these  wooden  floors,  the 
most  attractive  and  also  the  most  expensive  is 
wax.  It  is  more  attractive  because  it  was  most 
used  in  the  periods  which  are  usually  represented 
by  the  objects  in  our  museums.  It  is  much 
cleaner  than  the  oiled  floor;  because  a  floor  which 
has  once  been  treated  with  oil  must,  in  order  to 
be  kept  in  good  condition,  have  the  treatment 
repeated  at  frequent  intervals.  This  means  that 
the  floor  gets  darker  and  darker  with  each  ad- 
ditional coat,  and  particles  of  dust  which  sift  in 
after  lying  on  the  floor,  absorb  sufficient  oil  so 
that  they  become  more  or  less  of  a  menace  to  any 
delicate  objects  which  may  be  in  the  room,  as  in 
sweeping  there  is  bound  to  be  a  certain  amount  of 
dust  raised  which  will  not  fall  back  on  the  floor 
again  but  will  alight  on  the  objects  in  the  room.  A 
varnished  or  shellaced  floor  may  be  so  treated  as 
closely  to  resemble  in  finish  the  waxed  surface 


94  THE  MUSEUM 

and  is  much  more  easily  kept  in  condition  than 
this  latter.  To  avoid  reflection  the  shellac  or 
varnish  must  be  rubbed  down  until  the  gloss  has 
disappeared.  The  waxed  floor  is  the  most  agree- 
able, but  here  the  museum  man  must  be  cautioned 
that  it  requires  very  frequent  cleaning  and  polish- 
ing. If  a  floor  is  allowed  to  go  too  long  without 
polishing,  the  wood  becomes  worn  by  the  dirt 
brought  in  on  the  visitors'  shoes  and  will  never 
look  as  well  again.  In  a  museum  with  the  or- 
dinary number  of  visitors,  the  floors  should  be 
polished  by  the  janitors  once  a  month;  if  the 
attendance  is  especially  large,  every  two  weeks. 

Certain  museums,  both  in  this  country  and 
abroad,  have  used  linoleum  or  some  sort  of  cork 
compound  on  their  floors,  and  this  has  two  ad- 
vantages. In  the  first  place  it  is  much  less  tiring 
for  the  museum  visitor  to  walk  upon  and  in  the 
second  place  the  clicking  of  heels  that  is  often 
so  annoying,  especially  on  marble  and  tile  floors, 
is  almost  completely  silenced  by  the  linoleum. 
The  disadvantages  are,  in  the  first  place,  its 
great  expense,  and  in  the  second  place,  the  dis- 
agreeable odor  that  it  emits  when  wet.  Many 
of  the  Italian  museums  protect  their  floors  with 
strips  of  rope  carpet  which  are  very  strong  and 
durable,  also  very  difficult  to  clean.  A  vacuum 
cleaner  is  the  only  thing  that  can  be  used  on  them 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  COLLECTIONS    95 

and  even  this  never  seems  to  fully  remove  the 
dust.  In  the  Pinakothek  in  Dresden  the  experi- 
ment has  been  made  of  using  a  carpet  with  a 
thick  pile  in  one  of  the  rooms.  This  is,  of  course, 
a  great  luxury  and  is  most  welcome  to  the  museum 
visitor,  but  whether  it  is  practical  or  not  one  is 
inclined  to  doubt.  At  the  time  that  the  writer 
was  in  Dresden,  the  carpet  had  only  been  laid  a 
few  months  and  looked  very  well,  but  one  would 
want  to  see  the  carpet  after  it  had  been  down 
three  years  in  order  to  judge  whether  the  expense 
was  justifiable.  The  fire  danger  is,  of  course, 
slightly  enhanced  by  a  carpet,  and  also  as  a  moth 
breeder  it  is  to  be  avoided. 

TRIM 

Marble  doorways  and  baseboards  should  never 
be  used  in  exhibition  galleries.  The  reasons  for 
this  are,  that  the  museum  Director  is  hampered, 
in  choosing  the  color  of  his  decoration,  by  the 
color  in  the  marble,  and,  as  stated  before,  the 
museum  must  not  be  in  itself  so  grand  as  to  rival 
in  interest  the  exhibits.  A  plain  wooden  trim  in 
a  neutral  tone,  neither  too  light  nor  too  dark,  is 
to  be  preferred.  In  many  cases  it  will  be  found 
possible  to  do  away  with  door  trim  entirely,  mak- 
ing the  plaster  turn  around  the  opening.  Where 
the  floor  is  of  marble  the  baseboard  should  also 


96  THE  MUSEUM 

be  of  marble  because  of  ease  in  cleaning.  For 
the  same  reason,  when  the  floor  is  of  wood  the 
baseboard  should  be  of  wood.  The  so-called 
hospital  finish  is  of  doubtful  usefulness  in  a 
museum  and  it  must  be  remembered  if  this  is 
specified  that  no  furniture,  pedestal,  or  case  can 
be  made  to  set  really  flush  with  the  wall. 

GALLERY  FURNITURE 

An  eloquent  plea  for  seats  for  museum  visitors 
was  made  by  Dr.  Grosse,  of  Freiburg,  at  the 
Mannheim  conference,  in  his  article  entitled  "Die 
Ausstellung  und  die  Bezeichnung  in  Kunstmu- 
seen,"  and  many  other  museum  men  have  fol- 
lowed in  his  train.  It  is  now  universally  the 
custom  to  provide  some  sort  of  seats.  What  they 
shall  be  depends  upon  the  taste  of  the  museum 
committee  and  director.  The  Vatican  picture 
gallery  is  in  this  respect,  TS  in  many  others,  a 
model.  In  the  deep  window  embrasures  are  built 
wooden  benches  of  simple  design  with  backs  reach- 
ing up  to  the  high  window  sills,  while  in  the 
middle  of  the  room  are  modern  copies  of  the 
comfortable  renaissance  folding  armchairs  with 
leathern  back  and  seat.  These  look  well  and 
lend  dignity  and  character  to  the  room.  The 
Kaiser  Friedrich  Museum  also  uses  this  type  of 
chair.  Some  museums  use  really  old  chairs  of 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  COLLECTIONS    97 

inferior  merit  for  this  purpose,  but  they  are  never 
as  satisfactory  as  modern  copies  because  they  are 
more  fragile  and  are  not  plainly  intended  for  the 
public.  A  copy  of  a  chair  of  ancient  design  is 
more  appropriate  in  galleries  containing  old 
things  than  a  modern  oak  chair.  In  the  modern 
galleries  modern  chairs  can  be  used.  They  should 
not  be  too  heavy  nor  too  comfortable.  There 
is  a  type  of  expensive  wicker  chair  which  makes 
a  good-looking  gallery  chair.  Benches  without 
backs  are  less  conspicuous  than  those  with  backs, 
and  if  simply  designed  are  very  pleasant  additions 
to  the  gallery.  The  museum  that  is  short  of 
funds  should  be  content  with  ordinary  bentwood 
chairs  with  cane  seats.  They  may  be  finished 
inconspicuously  to  simulate  "fumed  oak"  and  are 
light,  durable,  cheap,  and  portable. 

For  a  top-lighted  gallery,  most  of  the  museums 
which  are  provided  with  radiators  in  the  middle 
of  the  room  have  resorted  to  a  system  of  mask- 
ing the  radiator  by  a  circular  bench.  This  makes 
a  heavy  and  cumbersome  object  in  the  centre  of 
the  room  which  greatly  detracts  from  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  impression  one  gains  when  entering 
the  gallery. 

There  should  be,  in  each  room,  or  in  every  other 
room  at  least,  a  chair  provided  for  the  custodian 
in  order  that  he  may  not  be  obliged  to  be  on  his 


98  THE  MUSEUM 

feet  all  day.  He  should  not  use  the  chair  if  there 
are  people  in  the  gallery,  but  there  are  many  hours 
in  the  day  when  he  could  use  it  when  there  is  no 
one  present. 

There  is  an  art  in  the  arrangement  of  furniture 
in  a  gallery.  Brass  rods  or  silken  cords  to  keep 
people  from  going  too  near  to  objects  of  value 
are  unsightly  and  have  a  bad  psychological  effect. 
Children  always  want  to  crawl  under  a  rope  "just 
to  see  what  will  happen,"  while  grown-ups  in- 
variably long  to  touch  objects  marked  "please  do 
not  handle."  Skilfully  adjusted  chairs  and  tables 
have  the  same  effect  as  cords  or  rods,  but  seem  so 
naturally  a  part  of  the  room  that  no  one  realizes 
that  they  are  placed  under  some  valuable  tapestry 
to  keep  the  public  from  handling  it.  This  is  one 
of  the  strong  arguments  in  favor  of  the  so-called 
"period"  arrangement  of  rooms;  that  is,  if  you 
have  a  notable  tapestry  or  fine  painting  of  re- 
naissance workmanship  you  can  keep  the  public 
at  a  proper  distance  and  at  the  same  time  improve 
the  appearance  of  your  gallery  by  putting  a  fine 
chest  or  an  old  credenza  underneath  it.  A 
framed  tapestry  is  much  less  apt  to  be  handled 
than  one  hanging  loose.  In  the  case  of  wooden 
sculpture,  furniture  cannot  be  used  to  keep  the 
public  away.  Here,  the  object  must  either  be 
placed  in  a  glass  case,  which  is  necessary  if  the 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  COLLECTIONS    99 

polychroming  is  in  a  delicate  condition,  or  rope 
must  be  used.  If  ropes  are  used  the  standards 
must  be  heavily  weighted  in  the  base.  Iron  or 
brass  rods  firmly  fixed  to  the  floor  should  never  be 
used  because,  if  they  are  moved,  the  holes  in  the 
floor  always  show. 

GLASS 

In  equipping  top-lighted  galleries,  the  building 
committee  and  the  director  will  find  themselves 
confronted  with  the  interesting  problem  of  choos- 
ing suitable  glazing.  Under  present  conditions, 
on  account  of  the  war,  this  will  prove  a  difficult 
matter,  as  all  the  glass  best  adapted  to  gallery 
purposes  was  produced  abroad;  the  finest  of  all 
in  Belgium.  There  are  a  number  of  requisites 
that  need  to  be  complied  with:  i.  the  glass  must 
be  as  white  as  possible;  2.  the  figure  must  be 
inconspicuous;  3.  it  must  be  so  designed  as  to 
hide  beams,  outer  skylight  and  electric  fixtures; 
4.  it  must  diffuse  the  light  well.  In  order  to  test 
these  different  qualities  it  is  well  to  arrange  in 
the  ceiling  of  one  large  room  samples  of  different 
glasses  available  in  the  market.  The  samples 
should  not  be  too  small,  four  or  six  large  sheets 
of  each  should  be  used.  It  will  be  found  that 
the  ordinary  ground  glass,  while  it  answers  the 
second  and  third  requirements  best  of  any,  has  yet 


ioo  THE  MUSEUM 

so  green  a  color  that  the  wall  beneath  changes 
perceptibly  in  tone.  The  white  cathedral  glass 
is  thinner  than  most  and  perhaps  for  that  reason 
gives  the  whitest  test;  it  conforms  to  two  and 
four  also,  but  is  not  very  successful  in  three.  The 
rippled  glass  which  has  been  used  in  the  Metro- 
politan fulfils  all  four  requirements  well.  It  is 
subject  to  one  disadvantage,  however,  in  that  it 
is  made  only  in  small  sizes. 

The  danger  of  breaking  a  pane  of  glass  is  great, 
especially  during  cleaning,  but  there  is  no  wired 
glass  on  the  market  sufficiently  clear  to  be  used  in 
skylights.  Wire  netting  stretched  under  the  glass 
serves  the  same  purpose. 

The  color  can  be  seen  in  a  small  sample  on  the 
cut  edges.  All  thick  glass  shows  green  when  cut, 
but  the  shade  and  intensity  of  the  color  vary  with 
the  kind  of  glass.  On  this  subject  see:  Charles  L. 
Norton,  A  New  Era  in  Interior  Lighting.  Tech- 
nology Quarterly,  vol.  XIV,  No.  i,  page  33.  E.  J. 
Edwards,  The  Lighting  of  Rooms  Through 
Translucent  Glass  Ceilings,  paper  read  at  the 
eighth  annual  convention  of  the  Illuminating  En- 
gineering Society,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  September, 
1914. 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  COLLECTIONS    >o: 


VELARIA 

In  many  matters  the  museum  man  would  do 
well  to  copy  methods  of  installation  used  by  the 
dealer.  The  psychology  of  the  art  loving  and 
art  buying  public  is  studied  by  him  to  a  profound 
degree.  And  yet  one  abomination  has  been  in- 
vented which  the  dealer  persists  in  using  that 
should  never  find  a  place  in  a  museum.  This  is 
the  velarium.  Whether  in  its  form  of  stained- 
glass  canopy,  or  as  a  thick  velvet  ceiling  or  as 
simply  a  thin  cheese-cloth  umbrella  with  flounces 
on  the  sides  it  has  no  place  in  a  gallery.  The 
mechanism  that  holds  it  up  is  always  visible  and 
clumsy,  it  catches  quantities  of  dust,  it  dwarfs  the 
size  of  a  room,  it  gives  one  a  very  uncom- 
fortable sensation  of  heavy  pressure  on  the  head, 
and  it  is  impossible  to  clean.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  excessive  glare  on  the  floor  of  a  gallery 
is  disagreeable,  but  this  may  be  remedied  in 
various  ways,  by  curtains  above  the  ceiling  lights, 
by  fin-like  diffusing  glasses,  and  by  means  of  the 
louvre-like  revolving  shutters  above  the  ceiling 
glass  such  as  have  been  used  in  Cleveland.  The 
velarium  does  not  in  any  way  increase  the  amount 
of  light  on  the  picture,  it  simply  darkens  the  spot 
in  which  the  spectator  stands.  On  this  subject 


102  THE  MUSEUM 

see :    Communications    to    the    Trustees    IV,    p. 
14,  Boston  Museum  Publications. 

On  the  subjects  so  far  discussed  there  are  inter- 
esting and  highly  instructive  articles  by  H.  Dede- 
kam,  Reise  Studien,  Museumskunde,  vol.  I,  pp. 
75,  153,  229;  vol.  II,  p.  92.  F.  A.  Bather,  Presi- 
dential Address,  Museums  Journal,  vol.  Ill,  p. 
72,  and  appendix,  p.  no.  Sir  W.  Armstrong, 
Necessity  for  ^Esthetic  Harmony  Between  Mu- 
seums and  Galleries  and  their  Contents,  Museums 
Journal,  XII,  133.  E.  Rimbault  Didbin,  The 
Care  of  Art  Treasures,  Museums  Journal,  vol. 
XII,  p.  101.  Benjamin  Ives  Gilman,  Aims  and 
Principles  of  the  Construction  and  Management 
of  Museums  of  Fine  Art,  Museums  Journal,  IX, 
28.  L.  Reau,  L'Organization  des  Musees,  Paris, 
1909.  Julius  von  Schlosser,  Die  Kunst  und  Wun- 
derkammern  der  Spatrenaissance,  Leipzig,  1908. 
Theodor  Volbehr,  Das  "Theatrum  Quicche- 
bergicum,"  Museumskunde,  V,  201.  M.  E.  Chev- 
reul,  Principles  of  Harmony  and  Contrast  of 
Colors. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  FORMATION  OF  COLLECTIONS 

A:CORDING  to  the  American  system,  a 
museum  is  an  outgrowth  of  the  educa- 
tional need  of  the  community  and  does 
not  come  into  existence  necessarily  because  of  an 
already  formed  collection  waiting  to  be  housed. 
This  condition  renders  a  museum  director's  prob- 
lem much  more  difficult  than  that  faced  by  his 
European  confrere  who,  almost  invariably,  finds 
himself  in  charge  of  an  already  formed  collection. 
The  American  museum  director  must  first  of  all 
make  a  careful  plan  by  which  he  will  be  guided 
in  the  future  for  the  scope  and  the  direction  of 
the  activity  of  his  museum.  Where  the  people 
of  a  city  need  art,  they  often  do  not  know  what 
kind  of  art  is  going  to  be  best  for  them,  and  the 
museum  director  must  help  them  to  choose 
wisely.  The  first  necessity,  therefore,  that  con- 
fronts the  committee  and  director  in  planning  a 
new  museum  is  to  study  the  needs  of  the  city  in 
which  the  museum  is  to  be  placed.  If,  for  in- 
stance, there  is  already  in  existence  in  the  city 

103 


104  THE  MUSEUM 

some  collection  which  with  proper  tact  may 
eventually  come  to  the  museum,  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  committee  to  plan  the  collection  which  they 
are  to  buy  in  such  a  way  that  it  will  not  cover 
the  same  field.  But  the  existence  of  private  or 
other  collections  is  not  the  only  thing  to  be  con- 
sidered. There  are  two  ends  in  view  in  adding 
the  museum  to  the  educational  equipment  of  a 
city.  One  is  the  development  of  a  high  class  of 
artisans  producing  a  more  artistic  grade  of  manu- 
factures. The  second  is  the  general  cultural 
development  of  the  community.  In  order  to  do 
their  duty  by  the  first  of  these  classes,  the  com- 
mittee and  the  director  must  study  the  manu- 
factures of  the  city.  They  should  make  a  survey 
of  the  kind  of  artistic  products  which  are  being 
turned  out  and  then  see  how  the  museum  could 
be  made  of  interest  and  value  to  the  workers  in 
these  different  manufactories.  For  instance,  in  a 
city  where  a  large  amount  of  glass  is  produced 
there  should  be  in  the  museum  a  representative 
collection  of  glass  of  all  periods  and  countries. 
Very  often,  collections  are  made  by  wise  manu- 
facturers for  the  use  of  the  workmen.  One  of 
the  most  interesting  of  these  collections  is  in 
Dresden,  where  Herr  Kuhnscherf,  a  prominent 
iron  manufacturer,  has  a  collection  of  early  German 
hand-wrought  iron  locks,  keys,  knockers,  gates, 


THE  FORMATION  OF  COLLECTIONS     105 

window  bars,  etc.  This  is  open  to  the  workers, 
and  the  men  are  supposed  to  spend  a  certain 
amount  of  time  in  studying  it,  the  idea  being  that 
they  will  have  a  greater  respect  for  hand  work 
and  inspiration  to  better  execution  by  this  means. 
The  same  thing  is,  of  course,  true  to  an  even 
greater  extent  in  Lyons,  France,  where  the  city 
government  maintains  a  large  museum  devoted 
entirely  to  the  textile  art  of  all  nations  and  of 
all  periods  in  order  that  the  workmen  in  the  silk 
factories  may  understand  fully  the  development 
of  the  art  to  which  they  are  devoting  themselves. 
In  planning,  therefore,  the  division  of  space  in 
a  museum,  the  committee  should  always  arrange 
for  exhibits  of  interest  to  the  local  industries.  In 
addition  there  must,  of  course,  be  a  collection  for 
cultural  purposes,  which  should  mean  material 
covering  the  history  of  art  in  all  periods  and  all 
countries.  A  collection  of  reproductions  is  of  in- 
estimable value  in  the  teaching  of  the  history  of 
art.  Few  museums  can  hope  to  possess  fine 
examples  of  Egyptian,  Greek,  Roman,  Gothic 
and  Renaissance  sculpture.  At  present  the  supply 
of  originals  is  limited  not  only  by  the  small  num- 
ber which  are  being  found,  but  also  by  the  laws 
forbidding  the  exportation  of  works  of  art.  Casts 
must  be  shown  by  themselves  and  plainly  marked 
"plaster  cast  from  the  original  in  .  .  ."  Repro- 


io6  THE  MUSEUM 

ductions  shown  with  the  originals  are  always 
confusing,  and  clarity  must  be  maintained  in  a 
museum.  It  is  unfortunate  that  it  is  not  possible 
to  obtain  equally  successful  reproductions  of 
paintings.  A  collection  of  photographs  is  of  in- 
estimable value  to  the  director  and  staff  in  a 
museum,  but  gives  so  little  idea  to  the  ordinary 
layman  that  the  exhibition  of  photographs  is  a 
questionable  means  of  education.  Their  use  in 
lectures  is,  of  course,  an  entirely  different  matter. 
Excellent  reproductions  of  gold  and  silver  finds 
have  been  made  by  the  electrolytic  method  in  a 
number  of  museums  and  by  several  well-known 
firms  in  Germany  and  elsewhere.  One  of  the  most 
complete  installations  for  the  reproduction  of 
these  objects  may  be  found  at  the  museum  of  St. 
Germain  near  Paris.  This  museum  is  especially 
rich  in  prehistoric  and  archaeological  material  and 
has  produced  some  very  remarkable  replicas  of 
bronze  and  silver  and  gold  objects  in  its  collection. 

Most  people  in  thinking  of  an  art  museum 
have  in  mind  a  picture  gallery,  and  the  museum 
director  who  only  collects  minor  arts  or  sculpture 
would  be  very  unpopular;  on  the  other  hand,  it  is 
not  well  for  the  public  to  forget  that  all  art  is  not 
painting  and  good  collections  of  the  other  classes 
of  material  are  essential. 

The    difficulty   of    selecting    from    a    mass    of 


THE  FORMATION  OF  COLLECTIONS    107 

modern  paintings  the  ones  which  will  be  considered 
worthy  of  a  place  in  a  museum  fifty  years  hence 
is  extreme.  It  is  unfortunate  that  we  are  biased 
in  our  views  by  temperament  and  by  fashion.  It 
is  impossible  to  say  in  what  fashion  consists,  and 
why  we  idolize  an  artist  to-day  whom  we  shall 
have  forgotten  after  a  generation.  At  the  time 
that  Whistler's  portrait  of  his  mother  was  ex- 
hibited in  Paris,  the  picture  received  little  com- 
mendation, and  now  the  picture  which  won  first 
prize  in  the  Salon  that  year  is  considered  a 
worthless  daub  in  comparison.  When  we  look 
back  over  the  pictures  that  have  made  a  great 
success  and  have  been  much  talked  about  during 
the  last  twenty-five  years,  we  are  amazed  to  find 
how  few  of  them  we  to-day  consider  worthy 
of  a  place  in  a  museum.  Examples  could  be 
multiplied  indefinitely.  The  most  popular  picture 
at  the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago  in  1893,  "Break- 
ing Home  Ties,"  hardly  won  a  glance  at  the  San 
Francisco  exhibition  in  1915.  Some  one  has  well 
said  that  the  buying  of  modern  pictures  for  ex- 
hibition in  a  museum  is  gambling  with  public 
funds.  It  is  a  hazard  which  the  museum  director 
need  not  take,  as  a  collection  of  paintings  can 
be  rapidly  built  up  by  gift  and  bequest,  and  the 
wise  director  will  therefore  spend  his  available 
funds  on  old  and  well-tried  masters.  But  if  the 


io8  THE  MUSEUM 

museum  director  is  going  to  collect  modern  pic- 
tures, why  should  he  not  with  equal  right  collect 
modern  furniture  of  artistic  design  or  modern 
glass  or  modern  porcelain  or  any  other  thing  of 
modern  manufacture  which  has  artistic  merit? 
In  speaking  of  the  collections  which  should  be 
made  for  the  use  of  the  artisan,  we  must  not  forget 
that  his  inspiration  will  come  not  only  from  the 
work  that  has  been  done  in  the  past  but  equally 
from  the  best  work  that  is  being  done  at  present. 
Just  as  it  is  necessary  for  the  painter  to  keep  up 
with  the  times  by  going  to  the  annual  exhibitions 
of  the  Academy  of  Design,  or  the  Academy  of 
Fine  Arts,  or  by  seeing  a  selection  of  the  pictures 
shown,  so  the  artisan  should  keep  abreast  of  the 
work  done  not  only  in  this  country  but  abroad  in 
the  same  field  as  his  own.  In  this  there  is  the 
same  difficulty  that  we  find  in  making  the  selection 
of  modern  paintings.  What  are  we  going  to 
consider  good  and  what  are  we  going  to  consider 
poor  fifty  years  from  now?  Very  often  the 
museum  director  will  find  that  it  will  be  possible 
for  him  to  arrange  for  transient  exhibitions  of 
minor  arts  in  the  same  way  that  he  arranges  for 
transient  exhibitions  of  paintings,  and  where  it  is 
possible,  it  obviates  the  difficulty  which  arises  from 
buying  modern  art  objects. 

The  innovation  introduced  by  Bode  in  the  old 


THE  FORMATION  OF  COLLECTIONS     109 

days  before  the  building  of  the  Kaiser  Friedrich 
Museum,  when  Renaissance  art  was  represented 
in  Berlin  by  a  room  in  the  Altes  Museum,  is  one 
which  may  well  be  copied  in  the  present  time.  In 
that  room  were  arranged  paintings,  sculpture, 
furniture,  rugs,  tapestries,  and  works  of  minor 
art;  the  one  point  in  common  being  the  period 
in  which  the  objects  were  produced.  The  effect 
of  this  room  was  charming  and  may  well  be  imi- 
tated. It  is  never  under  any  circumstances,  how- 
ever, justifiable  to  treat  an  object  of  art  and  one 
worthy  of  a  place  in  a  museum  as  though  it  were 
a  part  of  the  decoration  of  the  museum.  It  may 
by  its  nature  be  a  decoration  to  the  room,  but 
it  must  be  so  arranged  that  for  light  and  for 
space  and  for  general  effect  it  is  shown  to  its 
best  advantage.  To  cut  a  piece  of  sculpture,  a 
painting  or  a  tapestry,  as  a  layman  might  do,  to 
make  it  fit  a  given  spot  in  a  museum  is  to  commit 
a  crime.  For  instance,  in  a  well-known  European 
museum  where  a  wooden  figure  was  put  for 
artistic  effect  into  a  corner  in  which  it  did  not  fit 
and  cut  to  fit  that  place,  the  museum  authorities 
were,  to  put  it  strongly,  criminally  culpable. 

A  collection,  therefore,  for  cultural  purposes 
should  contain,  as  we  have  said  above,  casts  of 
the  finest  sculpture  of  the  different  periods  not 
shown  in  rooms  where  there  are  originals,  and 


i  io  THE  MUSEUM 

period  rooms  or  rooms  in  which  the  different  arts 
produced  are  shown  in  their  relation  to  one  an- 
other, and  picture  galleries  containing  such  pictures 
as  will  not  fit  in  with  the  arrangement  of  the 
rooms  by  period.  There  should  be,  in  addition, 
study  series  and  ample  quarters  for  special  col- 
lections like  prints  and  textiles  which  will  not 
be  exhibited  continuously. 

See  "Die  Museen  als  Volksbildungsstatten" ; 
the  report  of  the  Mannheim  Conference  of 
Museum  Directors,  Berlin,  Carl  Heymanns  Ver- 
lag,  1904;  K.  Koetschau,  Museumswesen  und 
Kunstforderung,  Jahrbuch  der  bildenden  Kunst, 

1903.  P- 93- 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS  FOR  EXHIBITION 
PAINTINGS 

IT  has  unfortunately  been  the  custom  for  many 
years  to  consider  that  the  restoration  and 
cleaning  of  paintings  could  be  entrusted  to 
any  artist.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  art  of  the 
restorer  is  as  different  as  possible  from  the  art 
of  the  maker  of  a  picture.  On  this  subject  we 
shall  attempt  to  sketch  briefly  some  of  the  methods 
used,  but  the  details  given  will  not  be  sufficient 
to  enable  any  one  to  follow  any  of  the  processes. 
There  are  numerous  treatises  on  the  subject  but 
none  can  be  recommended  without  exception. 
The  cleaning  of  a  painting  which  needs  to  be 
done  from  time  to  time  should  never  be  entrusted 
to  any  but  a  skilled  workman.  There  are  various 
processes.  One  restorer  insists  that  the  only 
way  to  clean  a  painting  is  to  use  the  fingers,  rub- 
bing gently,  without  any  medium.  Others  believe 
in  the  use  of  cold  water  and  a  sponge,  while 
others  hold  that  certain  kinds  of  oil  are  advis- 


iii 


ii2  THE  MUSEUM 

able.  Others  subject  the  pictures  to  the  fumes  of 
pure  alcohol,  the  Pettenkofer  system,  which  brings 
out  the  colors  in  a  most  astonishing  way.  But 
the  question  of  the  method  to  be  used  is  not  nearly 
as  important  as  the  question  of  the  ability  and 
character  of  the  restorer. 

We  have,  unfortunately,  learned  from  England 
a  love  of  varnish  which  would  have  made  most 
of  the  old  masters  turn  in  their  graves.  The 
dealers  say:  "We  can  not  sell  a  picture  unless 
it  has  a  good  heavy  varnish  on  it.  People  like 
the  old  look  that  comes  by  using  a  heavy  yellow- 
toned  varnish."  But  this  is  wrong  and  we  must 
develop  the  taste  of  the  public  in  our  museums 
by  showing  them  pictures  with  only  a  thin  coat 
of  varnish,  just  sufficient  to  keep  the  paint  intact 
as  was  originally  intended.  The  danger  in  re- 
moving varnish  is,  of  course,  that  the  glazes  may 
also  be  removed. 

At  a  certain  period  in  the  XVIII  and  XIX 
centuries,  a  great  deal  of  pernicious  repainting 
was  done  under  the  name  of  restoration,  and 
pictures  which  underwent  a  thorough  overhauling 
at  that  time  are  almost  unrecognizable  in  some 
cases.  The  stories  that  one  hears  of  the  remark- 
able discoveries  that  have  been  made  of  Raphaels 
and  other  famous  masters  hidden  away  beneath 
the  paint  put  on  by  the  restorer  are  as  thrilling 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS^  113  , 

as  any  Arabian  Nights'  tale  and  probably  no 
layman  buys  a  rather  poor  picture  cheaply  with- 
out feeling  sure  that  he  has  an  old  master  dis- 
guised. The  difficulty  in  making  a  restoration  is 
that  the  restorer,  unless  he  be  very  conscientious, 
is  carried  beyond  his  original  intention  to  such 
an  extent  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  him 
not  to  put  in  a  good  deal  of  his  own  work  on 
the  picture.  A  careful  and  conscientious  restorer 
will,  however,  add  nothing  to  the  picture.  If 
there  are  certain  portions  lacking,  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  restorer,  as  at  present  understood,  to  add 
merely  flat  color  in  the  place  where  the  paint  is 
gone  which  will  harmonize  with  the  ancient 
painting  but  which  will  deceive  no  one.  In  our 
climate  there  is  often  a  great  deal  of  trouble  from 
blisters  where  the  paint  rises  up  and  starts  to 
peel.  The  process  of  getting  the  paint  back  into 
position  again  is  a  very  painstaking  and  laborious 
one.  The  usual  way  is  to  inject  mastic  under 
the  blister  with  a  hypodermic  syringe  and  then 
lay  the  paint  back  in  place  very  gently,  covering 
it  with  a  heavy  weight  until  the  mastic  has  set, 
in  order  firmly  to  fix  the  paint  in  place.  Fre- 
quently, however,  where  the  paint  is  cracked  and 
is  peeling  in  many  places,  the  mastic  is  dabbed 
onto  the  face  of  the  picture^trusting  to  luck  that 
some  of  it  will  get  into  the  cracks  and  hold  the 


ii4  THE  MUSEUM 

paint  in  place.  In  this  case,  it  is  usual  to  place 
a  thin  tissue  paper  over  the  part  that  has  been 
so  treated  until  the  mastic  has  thoroughly  dried. 
A  little  cold  water  will  easily  remove  the  paper 
and  the  superfluous  mastic. 

Where  a  picture  is  in  a  serious  condition,  it  is 
often  necessary  to  re-back  it.  In  the  case  of  a 
painting  on  canvas  this  is  rather  a  simple  matter. 
A  thin  tissue  paper  or  muslin  is  pasted  to  the  front 
of  the  picture,  the  canvas  is  then  taken  off  the 
stretcher  and  laid  face  down  on  a  marble-topped 
table.  The  old  canvas  is  carefully  removed  and 
the  paint  thoroughly  wet  with  a  rich  mastic  solu- 
tion and  a  new  canvas  is  carefully  placed  over 
this.  In  order  to  make  the  new  canvas  lie  abso- 
lutely smooth,  a  warm  iron  is  applied  by  some 
restorers.  The  process  is  a  delicate  one,  as  the 
new  canvas  must  show  no  unevenness  whatever 
yet  the  heat  of  the  iron  may  do  irreparable 
damage.  When  this  operation  has  been  com- 
pleted, the  new  canvas  bears  the  brunt  of  stretch- 
ing over  the  new  stretcher. 

Where  the  painting  is  on  panel,  the  process 
is  a  much  more  difficult  one,  as  it  usually  entails 
the  transfer  of  the  painting  onto  canvas.  Tissue 
paper  or  muslin  is  put  upon  the  front  of  the  paint- 
ing as  before.  The  virtue  in  this  is  that  the  paint 
is  held  in  place  by  the  tissue  paper  and  no  little 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       115 

particles  are  lost  through  friction  while  the  panel 
is  being  reduced.  The  next  process  is  to  reduce 
the  panel  by  planing  it  down  on  the  back.  This 
process  is  a  very  delicate  one  as,  unless  it  is  very 
carefully  done,  when  the  wood  has  become  thin 
the  gesso  on  which  the  painting  has  been  applied 
will  crack  and  separate.  The  usual  custom  is  to 
shave  the  wood  down  until  there  is  hardly  more 
than  a  paper  thickness  of  wood  at  the  back  of 
the  gesso.  Upon  this  is  applied  the  strong 
mastic  and  the  canvas  is  laid  down  as  in  the  case 
of  re-backing  a  painting  on  canvas.  When  this 
has  been  done,  there  is  always  a  little  thick  edge 
which  may  be  seen  when  the  painting  is  out  of 
the  frame  which  will  indicate  its  history.  Fre- 
quently, however,  paintings  on  panel,  especially 
in  the  northern  countries  like  Germany,  England 
and  the  United  States,  contract  and  expand  with 
the  changes  in  the  weather.  This  often  means 
that  the  face  of  the  picture  will  crack  open. 
When  there  is  any  danger  of  this,  but  the  con- 
dition is  not  sufficiently  serious  to  call  for  re- 
backing,  a  process  known  in  English  as  cradling 
has  been  invented.  This  is  called  in  other  coun- 
tries by  the  French  name  parquetting.  V  In  this 
process  the  wooden  panel  is  somewhat  thinned  by 
planing  on  the  back.  It  is  then  treated  with  a 
varnish  which  is  supposed  to  render  it  impervious 


n6  THE  MUSEUM 

to  worms,  and  narrow  strips  of  wood  are  glued 
onto  the  back  running  in  the  same  direction  as 
the  grain  of  the  wood.  In  these  strips,  which  are 
usually  about  three-quarters  of  an  inch  wide  and 
about  two  inches  apart,  grooves  are  cut  at  inter- 
vals of  two  inches  and  through  these  grooves  are 
run  strips  of  wood  of  the  same  width  as  the  first 
and  at  right  angles  to  them.  These  second  strips 
must  always  be  loose;  the  idea  being  that  if  the 
wooden  framework  on  the  back  is  too  rigid,  the 
picture  will  spread  all  the  more,  but  where  the 
framework  gives  as  the  wood  in  front  moves, 
there  is  less  danger.  This  process  has  been  per- 
fected by  a  number  of  high-class  restorers  and 
has  now  gained  favor  almost  everywhere.  There 
are  still,  however,  a  few  men  who  feel  that  the 
only  way  to  treat  a  wooden  picture  is  to  hold  it 
absolutely  rigid  by  the  use  of  iron  bars.  These 
iron  bars  are  screwed  and  clamped  onto  the  wood 
in  such  a  way  that  the  picture  is  much  more  prone 
to  crack  than  it  was  before.  Over  these  irons  a 
thick  cement  supposed  to  be  waterproof  is  some- 
times applied  with  the  intention  of  keeping  all  air 
and  moisture  from  the  wood. 

The  method  for  the  transfer  of  frescoes  to 
canvas  is  an  exceedingly  interesting  one  and  very 
difficult  to  perform.  It  is  always  a  question  how 
much  one  is  going  to  get  in  removing  a  fresco 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       117 

from  the  wall,  but  the  most  successful  method  is 
the  following:  a  canvas  thickly  spread  with  a 
strong  adhesive  is  laid  on  the  face  of  the  fresco. 
When  this  substance  has  thoroughly  dried  the 
canvas  is  torn  away  from  the  wall  and  a  surface 
varying  from  1/16  inch  to  1/4  inch  is  pulled  off 
with  the  canvas.  This  is  then  levelled  somewhat  on 
the  back  and  another  canvas  covered  with  mastic 
is  very  carefully  laid  over  the  back.  When  this 
has  been  put  in  place  and  has  thoroughly  dried 
the  whole  fresco  is  turned  over  and  heat  is  ap- 
plied to  the  front  side  to  soften  the  glue.  The 
canvas  is  then  gently  removed  and  the  glue  is 
wiped  off.  When  the  back  canvas  has  been  al- 
lowed to  stay  until  the  glue  has  thoroughly  set 
it  can  be  mounted  upon  a  frame  just  like  any 
ordinary  picture.  The  curious  thing  about  the 
process  is  that  while  the  fresco  appears  on  the 
canvas  in  almost  as  good  preservation  as  when 
it  was  on  the  wall,  the  wall  from  which  the  fresco 
has  been  torn  retains  a  shadow  of  the  picture 
sometimes  almost  as  clear  as  the  original  although, 
of  course,  uneven  in  surface.  (A  good  example 
of  this  is  the  representation  of  St.  Catherine,  by 
Luini,  in  the  Church  of  the  Felucca.  The  original 
is  now  in  the  Brera  in  Milan,  while  the  wall  of 
the  chapel  from  which  it  was  taken  still  shows  a 
ghostly  shadow  of  its  former  glory.) 


ii8  THE  MUSEUM 

The  other  method  of  removing  frescoes  is  one 
which  has  been  used  largely  in  Pompeii  and  other 
places  where  classical  remains  have  been  uncov- 
ered. A  wooden  frame  is  made  in  which  the 
whole  section  of  wall  is  fastened.  The  super- 
fluous thickness  at  the  back  is  then  chopped  away. 
This  process  necessitates  the  tearing  down  of  the 
walls  on  which  the  frescoes  have  been  painted 
and  is,  therefore,  impractical  in  many  instances. 
Any  discussion  of  methods  is  idle,  however,  for 
no  museum  director  has  a  right  to  experiment  with 
the  objects  in  his  charge.  Pictures  in  need  of  re- 
pairs should  be  entrusted  only  to  skilled  and  con- 
scientious experts  with  whom  rests  the  choice  of 
the  method  to  be  pursued. 

FRAMING. — This  is  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting problems  which  comes  up  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  pictures.  In  the  case  of  old  paintings, 
modern  opinion  holds  that  the  frame  should 
be  expressive  of  the  period  in  which  the  painting 
was  made.  Many  old  frames  have  come  down 
to  us,  although  the  museum  director  who  starts 
out  with  the  hope  of  providing  his  old  pictures 
with  frames  of  the  period  must  expect  to  pay 
very  nearly  as  much  for  the  frame  as  he  does 
for  the  picture,  as  any  authentic  old  frame  com- 
mands an  enormously  high  price.  In  Europe 
where  the  museums  have  been  established  for  so 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       119 

many  years,  the  museum  director  is  often  able 
to  find,  tucked  away  in  the  attic  of  his  museum, 
some  admirable  old  frames  which  were  taken 
off  during  the  period  when  it  was  considered 
stylish  for  all  the  pictures  in  a  museum  to  be 
framed  alike.  The  falsification  of  frames  is  one 
of  the  most  successful  trades,  and  a  fake  frame  is 
often  so  admirable  in  workmanship  that  even  the 
greatest  connoisseurs  are  deceived.  For  these,  in 
many  cases,  old  wood  is  used  and  the  tricks  of 
shooting  buckshot  into  it  to  imitate  worm  holes 
and  collecting  dust  to  rub  into  the  crevices  are 
so  cleverly  used  as  to  deceive  even  the  expert. 
In  the  Brera  in  Milan  are  some  excellent  frames 
which  look  very  old.  In  answer  to  a  question 
as  to  whether  they  were  expensive,  the  director 
said:  uOh  no!  I  had  those  made  in  Florence 
last  year,  but  I  told  the  workman  he  could  leave 
out  the  worm  holes."  Florence  has  one  of  the 
greatest  manufactories  of  imitation  old  frames, 
and  the  market  has  been  so  thoroughly  cleared 
of  authentic  originals  that  one  may  feel  pretty 
skeptical  as  to  whether  any  frames  coming  from 
Florence  now  can  be  really  old.  In  Munich,  in  the 
Alte  Pinakothek,  are  some  very  charming  adapta- 
tions of  old  designs.  These  are  simple,  but  set 
off  the  pictures  far  better  than  any  modern  frame 
could  do.  Nothing  makes  more  difference  in  the 


120  THE  MUSEUM 

looks  of  a  picture  than  the  way  it  is  framed. 
The  frame  is  not  merely  necessary  to  separate 
the  picture  from  the  background  on  which  it  hangs, 
but  is  very  essentially  a  part  of  the  impression 
it  gives.  Thus,  for  instance,  a  Renaissance 
frame  which  would  be  excellent  on  a  picture  by 
Botticelli,  let  us  say,  would  probably  not  fit  a 
picture  by  Rubens.  In  any  period  the  frame  that 
was  used  at  that  time  represents  the  feeling  of 
the  age  and  is  much  better  adapted  to  paintings 
of  the  epoch  than  is  the  frame  of  any  other 
period.  Modern  artists  are  turning  more  and 
more  to  the  style  of  frames  used  in  the  early 
Renaissance  and  adapting  types  of  ancient  mould- 
ings to  their  own  pictures.  Yet  rarely  do  these 
express  artistic  merit  and  the  individuality  of  the 
artist  to  the  same  degree  as  do  frames  which  fol- 
low the  dictates  of  modern  design.  The  excel- 
lence of  the  old  designs  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  artist  was  willing  to  spend  infinite  pains  to 
make  the  frame  suit  the  picture.  Modern  artists 
are  realizing  this  and  many  of  them  now  design 
their  own  frames. 

The  day  of  heavy  gold  frames  for  every  picture 
is  past.  The  frame  must  now  be  proportioned 
to  the  size  of  the  picture  and  must  conform  in 
tone  to  the  combination  of  colors  in  the  painting. 
In  the  case  of  old  Dutch  masters,  we  note  from 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS      121 

the  study  of  contemporary  interiors  that  they 
were  sometimes  framed  in  black  or  very  dark 
brown,  with  perhaps  a  slight  touch  of  gold.  A 
whole  room  in  which  the  frames  are  black  gives 
a  very  lugubrious  appearance.  For  museum  pur- 
poses the  black  frame  is  an  admirable  note  pro- 
vided it  is  not  introduced  too  often. 

HANGING. — In  the  matter  of  hanging,  there 
are  many  things  to  be  considered.  The  museum 
director  who  finds  himself  at  the  head  of  a 
museum  in  which  all  the  walls  are  plaster  is  con- 
strained to  hang  from  a  moulding  or  pipe.  Of 
course  an  ordinary  wooden  moulding  is  not  strong 
enough  to  be  considered  in  an  art  museum,  where 
very  often  the  pictures  to  be  hung  are  excessively 
heavy.  Some  type  of  iron  bar  is  the  most  useful. 
There  are  on  the  market  various  forms  of  bars. 
The  so-called  Z-bar,  one-half  of  which  is  im- 
bedded in  the  plaster  of  the  wall,  has  the  disad- 
vantage that  it  projects  nearly  an  inch  from  the 
surface  of  the  wall  when  in  place  and,  therefore, 
the  wires  or  chains  from  which  the  pictures  are 
suspended  do  not  hang  flat  on  the  wall.  The  pipe 
moulding  has  the  same  disadvantage,  and  also,  as 
it  is  attached  to  the  wall  at  frequent  intervals 
witty  fasteners  which  are  sunk  deep  into  the  plaster, 
a  hook  can  not  be  placed  where  these  fasteners 
come;  therefore  the  exact  spacing  of  pictures 


122  THE  MUSEUM 

becomes  more  difficult.  A  system  used  in  some 
places  has  certain  advantages.  A  slot  in  the  wall 
at  a  convenient  hanging  level  is  arranged.  This 
slot  is  composed  of  two  metal  bars  or  two  angle- 
irons  let  into  the  wall  in  such  a  way  that  one  side 
is  flush  with  the  wall  and  they  come  together 
leaving  a  slot  about  *4  inch  wide.  Metal  hooks 
are  provided  with  a  bar  on  the  back.  These  hooks 
when  turned  can  be  pushed  through  the  slot  and 
when  in  place  hold  firmly  against  the  metal  edge 
of  the  angle-iron.  With  this  system  it  is  possible 
to  hang  the  pictures  very  close  against  the  wall 
and  then  there  remains  only  the  slot,  which  makes 
a  somewhat  disagreeable  line  around  the  wall. 
This  same  system,  however,  when  used  at  the 
height  of  the  ordinary  moulding  is  not  objection- 
able. In  some  museums  where  the  walls  are 
plastered,  a  wooden  board  about  3  inches  wide 
has  been  let  into  the  wall  and  painted  the  same 
color  as  the  plaster.  In  this  way  pictures  can 
be  put  up  with  nails  or  screws  as  desired,  which 
is  obviously  an  advantage,  especially  where  col- 
lections have  to  be  changed  very  frequently,  when 
much  time  is  saved. 

In  hanging  pictures  from  mouldings,  there  are 
several  processes  which  can  be  used.  One  fre- 
quently seen  in  European  museums  consists  of 
using  an  iron  about  iy2  inches  wide  and  per- 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       123 

forated  throughout  its  length,  which  hangs  from 
the  moulding  and  to  which  the  pictures  are  at- 
tached by  means  of  a  screw  which  passes  through 
a  hole  in  the  bar.  This  process  holds  the  picture 
rigidly  in  place  but  is  very  ugly,  and  the  wide 
iron  strips  hanging  at  regular  intervals  give  one 
a  disagreeable  impression,  even  when  they  are 
painted  the  same  color  as  the  wall,  for  they  al- 
ways hang  out  far  enough  from  the  wall  so  that 
a  shadow  is  cast  on  either  side  which  makes  a 
distinct  line  up  and  down.  Chains  have  this  same 
disadvantage  and  also  another,  in  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  make  a  picture  hang  straight  on  the  two 
sides,  although  it  is  a  great  convenience  to  be 
able  to  hang  the  pictures  from  the  floor  instead 
of  from  a  high  ladder.  The  chains,  however, 
have  to  be  especially  made  for  museum  work  and 
can  not  be  obtained  on  the  market  in  America. 
Much  the  most  attractive  way  of  hanging  pic- 
tures from  a  moulding  is  with  the  use  of  an 
ordinary  picture  wire.  Copper  wire  can  only  be 
used  once  without  becoming  much  twisted  and  it 
is  liable  to  break  if  allowed  to  hang  bent.  The 
ordinary  brass  wire  has  the  disadvantage  of  being 
very  susceptible  to  atmospheric  conditions,  rusts 
and  becomes  weak  very  easily.  The  strongest  of 
the  picture  wires  on  the  market  is  the  braided 
steel,  the  ordinary  picture  wire,  which  can  be  had 


i24  THE  MUSEUM 

in  all  sizes  according  to  the  weight  of  the  pictures 
it  is  to  carry.  The  most  convenient  way  of  hang- 
ing when  using  wire  is  to  pass  one  end  through 
both  screw  eyes  on  the  back  of  the  picture,  fasten 
this  end  to  a  hook  and  hang  the  hook  on  the 
moulding  and  then  raise  the  picture  to  its  place 
and  fasten  the  other  end  of  the  wire  onto  another 
hook.  The  advantage  of  this  is  that  only  one 
wire  passes  from  the  hook  down  through  the 
screw  eyes  and  up  to  the  other  hook.  In  this 
way,  if  the  picture  is  slightly  crooked,  it  can  easily 
be  set  straight.  The  usual  way  of  hanging  with 
wire  is  to  fasten  the  wire  onto  the  screw  eye  in- 
stead of  onto  the  hook,  which  makes  the  adjust- 
ment of  the  picture  very  difficult.  The  wires 
when  in  place  can  be  tinted  with  water  color  to 
match  the  wall.  If  this  is  done  they  are  quite 
inconspicuous.  All  picture  wires  should  be  ex- 
amined from  time  to  time  to  make  sure  they  have 
not  rusted. 

By  far  the  easiest  method  of  attaching  pictures 
to  the  wall  is  by  nails  or  screws,  where  the  walls 
are  sheathed  with  wood  and  covered  with  a  textile. 
A  room  can  be  hung  in  about  half  the  time  that 
it  takes  with  any  other  method,  as  long  ladders 
are  not  needed  and,  once  the  height  is  established 
at  which  one  wishes  a  picture  to  hang,  to  drive 
the  nails  only  remains.  The  sheathing  of  walls 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS      125 

with  wood  is  now  considered  perfectly  safe  pro-  / 
vided  an  asbestos  paper  covering  is  used  or  the 
wood  is  treated  with  a  fire-proofing  liquid,  though 
the  chemical  properties  of  this  liquid  must  be 
tested,  as  the  acid  fumes  may  prove  deleterious  to 
the  paintings  hung  upon  the  wall. 

The  director  is  faced  by  a  double  problem  in 
any  building  where  there  is  danger  of  fire,  for 
it  must  be  possible  to  rapidly  detach  the  pictures 
from  the  wall  and  yet  the  frequent  attempts  to 
steal  objects  from  museums  and  exhibitions  make 
it  desirable  that  everything  should  be  fastened  in 
as  rigid  a  way  as  possible.  In  one  museum,  the 
picture  gallery  is  on  the  top  floor  of  a  none  too 
fire-proof  building.  The  Trustees  of  the  Museum 
gave  directions  that  all  pictures  should  be  so  ar- 
ranged that  they  might  easily  be  taken  out  in  case 
of  fire,  and  then  they  came  one  day  and  playfully 
took  down  picture  after  picture  and  moved  them 
into  another  room  in  the  gallery  in  order  to  give 
the  poor  director  a  shock  and  to  show  him  how 
easily  a  thief  might  carry  off  a  full  collection. 
Such  cases  must  be  dealt  with  by  the  ingenuity 
of  the  individual  museum  director.  There  are 
certain  devices  employed,  especially  in  European 
museums,  to  put  up  small  pictures  and  prints.  A 
screw  which  requires  a  patent  screw-driver  is 
used.  This  screw  is  provided  with  two  small 


126  THE  MUSEUM 

holes  on  either  side  of  the  head,  into  which  the 
instrument  fits,  but  every  one  realizes  that  a 
strong  wire  hairpin  would  be  quite  sufficient  to 
take  the  place  of  the  patented  instrument  that  is 
supposed  to  be  used  with  these  screws.  In  Euro- 
pean galleries  where  the  light  is  not  uniformly 
good,  it  is  the  custom  to  hang  paintings  of  special 
importance  on  long  hinges.  By  this  means  they 
may  be  turned  out  on  an  angle  with  the  light.  A 
room  in  which  there  are  several  pictures  so  hung 
has  a  rather  untidy  appearance,  but  the  improve- 
ment in  the  lighting  of  the  pictures  is  worth  it. 
The  backs  should  always  be  covered  if  the  pictures 
are  hung  in  this  way. 

LABELLING. — This  is  another  matter  which 
should  engage  the  attention  of  a  museum  director, 
and  here  his  real  genius  will  come  forth.  There  is 
absolutely  no  logical  ground  for  refusing  to  label 
the  objects  in  a  museum.  The  two  excuses  given 
for  omitting  labels  are,  the  revenue  to  be  derived 
from  the  sale  of  catalogues,  which  is  really  neg- 
ligible and  which  should  not  be  considered  by 
any  director  who  has  the  interests  of  the  public 
at  heart;  and  the  fact  that  the  average  visitor 
will  read  the  labels  and  will  not  stop  to  look  at  the 
objects.  If  this  is  ever  the  case,  the  visitor  would 
probably  find  a  way  to  go  through  the  gallery  with- 
out profit.  Unless  a  visitor  is  really  interested,  he 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       127 

will  not  bother  to  read  the  labels  at  all.  The  casual 
tourist  who  feels  that  he  must  "do"  the  museums  of 
a  town  will  rush  through,  glancing  hastily  from  left 
to  right  and  from  right  to  left  and  paying  little  at- 
tention to  any  of  the  exhibits.  If,  however,  his  eye 
catches  something  which  he  thinks  may  interest 
him,  he  will  stop  and  look  at  the  label  where  he 
would  not  consider  for  a  minute  looking  up  the 
object  in  a  catalogue.  In  the  labelling  of  paint- 
ings, two  points  are  to  be  considered:  i.  the 
label  should  be  legible,  2.  it  should  not  obtrude 
itself  upon  the  view  of  the  visitor.  How  is  it 
possible  to  reconcile  these  two?  In  the  museum 
of  the  Corsini  Palace  in  Rome,  an  experiment  has 
been  tried  which  is  not  altogether  successful. 
Here  the  labels  have  been  made  of  wood,  rather 
large,  carved  in  a  design  resembling  the  frame 
and  characteristic  of  the  period  of  the  picture. 
They  have  been  gilded  and  toned  to  match  exactly 
the  color  of  the  frames.  Upon  these  the  name 
of  the  picture  and  the  artist's  name  and  his  dates 
have  been  written  in  letters  characteristic  of  the 
period.  The  result  is  that  in  some  instances  the 
label  is  almost  unreadable  and  in  other  cases  it 
seems  to  overshadow  the  picture  in  importance. 
The  usual  brass  plates  lettered  in  black  while  not 
pretty  are  certainly  preferable  to  these.  In  other 
museums  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  have  the 


128  THE  MUSEUM 

lettering  not  too  prominent  and  the  consequence 
is  that  one  has  to  strain  one's  eyes  in  order  to 
read  the  label.  Perhaps  the  most  successful 
method  is  that  adopted  in  the  Alte  Pinakothek  in 
Munich.  Here  the  label  is  printed  on  a  long 
narrow  strip  of  gold  cardboard  toned  to  match 
the  frame  and  placed  on  the  lower  part  in  such 
a  way  that  the  strip  runs  the  full  length,  and 
wherever  possible,  lies  on  a  flat  member  of  the 
frame  itself.  These  labels  are  usually  about  J4 
inch  high  and  the  letters  are  J4  inch  in  height; 
the  subject  matter  being  very  concisely  put, 
giving  the  name  of  the  artist,  his  dates  or  school, 
and  a  short  title  for  the  picture.  Further 
details  are  left  for  the  catalogue.  One  very 
important  point  to  be  considered  in  labelling  is 
the  desirability  of  having  the  information  as  con- 
cise as  possible  and  having  it  all  on  one  label. 
To  have  the  name  of  the  artist,  his  dates,  and 
the  name  of  the  picture  on  one  label,  the  name  of 
the  donor  on  another,  and  the  catalogue  number 
on  a  third,  is  a  very  common  and  disagreeable 
error.  Everything  should  be  done  to  avoid  spot- 
tiness  in  appearance.  Each  additional  bit  of 
brass  or  cardboard  added  to  a  frame  detracts 
from  the  continuity  of  the  impression  given  by  the 
picture. 

Glass  in  front  of  a  painting  should  be  avoided 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       129 

if  possible,  because  of  the  reflection.  In  certain 
cities  the  dust  is  so  great  that  glass  must  be  used 
on  all  pictures,  while  a  few  old  masters  and  small 
and  finely  painted  pictures  always  need  the  pro- 
tection afforded  by  glass.  If  the  glass  is  to  be 
placed  in  the  frame,  however,  care  should  be 
taken  to  allow  the  air  to  circulate  between  the 
painting  and  the  glass,  as  otherwise  the  process 
known  as  sweating,  which  is  very  injurious  to  the 
surface  of  the  painting,  may  take  place.  In  a 
carefully  framed  picture  where  the  back  is  .sealed 
so  as  to  keep  the  dust  from  the  canvas  there 
should  be  small  holes  for  ventilation  in  the  side 
of  the  frame.  These  may  be  covered  on  the 
inside  with  cheese-cloth  or  stuffed  with  cotton 
wool  to  keep  out  the  dust.  If  a  painting  is  in 
a  precarious  condition  it  is  sometimes  put  in  an 
air-tight  case  with  glass  front.  This  case  is  usually 
made  the  exact  size  of  the  picture  and  just  deep 
enough  to  allow  for  the  frame.  The  glass  when 
placed  in  this  way  four  or  five  inches  from  the 
face  of  the  picture  does  not  reflect  as  badly  as 
when  close  to  the  painting. 

MINOR   ARTS 

The  largest  group  of  material  available  for 
exhibition  in  an  art  museum  and  one  which  in 
this  country  is,  alas,  often  neglected  is  that  which 


130  THE  MUSEUM 

may  be  classified  as  Industrial  Art,  and  which  in- 
cludes furniture,  textiles,  glass,  porcelain,  iron 
work,  wood  carving  and  all  the  other  objects  of 
artistic  workmanship  which  surround  us  in  our 
daily  life.  Europe  has  already  recognized  the 
vital  interest  of  collections  of  this  kind  and 
Berlin,  Paris,  Munich  and  London  delight  us 
with  exhibitions  worthy  of  all  praise,  which  de- 
velop the  taste  of  the  ordinary  public  in  matters 
connected  with  home  life  and  are  an  inspiration 
to  the  artisan  to  produce  useful  objects  of  real 
artistic  merit.  The  importance  of  such  collections 
can  scarcely  be  overestimated  and  the  museum 
director  will  do  well  to  perfect  himself  in  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  care  of  such  material,  as  the  public 
demand  is  daily  increasing  and  in  future  no 
museum  will  be  complete  without  large  groups  of 
industrial  art. 

Every  object  that  can  be  preserved  in  a  museum 
is  subject  to  some  kind  of  pest  or  disease  which 
requires  the  care  of  a  skilful  physician.  Some  of 
these  maladies  are  infectious,  others  are  danger- 
ous only  to  the  object  attacked.  It  is  not  within 
the  scope  of  this  volume  to  describe  all,  nor  is  it 
even  possible  to  discuss  all  the  methods  of  curing 
the  diseases.  As  in  the  case  of  the  restoration 
of  paintings,  there  are  experts  who  have  devoted 
their  lives  to  these  things  to  whom  inquiry  should 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       131 

be  addressed  in  all  serious  cases.  The  literature 
on  this  subject  is  scattered  in  the  form  of  articles 
in  Museumskunde,  the  Museums  Journal  and  the 
Proceedings  of  the  American  Association  of 
Museums.  The  most  complete  and  authoritative 
handbook  is  that  by  Dr.  Fr.  Rathgen,  "The 
Preservation  of  Antiquities,"  translated  by  George 
A.  and  Harold  A.  Auden  and  published  by  the 
Cambridge  University  Press,  1905. 

TEXTILES. — Let  us  consider  first  the  care  of 
textiles,  and  primarily  tapestries.  Every  woven 
fabric  which  contains  wool  is  subject  to  the  house- 
keeper's pest  of  moths.  Exhaustive  experiments, 
especially  by  scientists  working  with  ethnograph- 
ical material,  have  demonstrated  that  the  ordi- 
nary moth  balls  or  camphor  balls  are  of  absolutely 
no  use.  Cleanliness  is  most  important.  There  is 
also  a  system  of  disinfection  which  is  very  useful. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  fumes  of  carbon  disul- 
phide  kill  all  animal  life  and  even  destroy  the 
germs  in  insect  eggs.  This  substance  is  highly 
poisonous  to  human  beings  and  is  also  excessively 
explosive.  It  has,  however,  no  chemically  de- 
leterious effect  upon  color  or  upon  the  fabric  itself. 
The  problem  is  to  subject  the  textiles  to  the 
fumes  of  carbon  disulphide  for  a  sufficient  length 
of  time  to  kill  all  insects  or  eggs  without  run- 
ning the  risk  of  fire  and  without  poisoning  the 


i32  THE  MUSEUM 

operator.  One  of  our  American  museums  has 
built  a  vault,  just  outside  the  building  proper, 
which  is  so  constructed  as  to  be  as  airtight  as 
possible.  In  this  the  tapestries  are  sealed  for  a 
week  at  a  time,  a  small  saucer  of  carbon  disul- 
phide  being  placed  in  the  cell  with  them.  This 
vault  was  doubtless  almost  as  expensive  to  con- 
struct as  the  far  more  efficient  device  used  in 
the  Swedish  museums  and  in  Dresden.  [See 
Museumskunde,  vol.  IV,  p.  77,  and  Museums 
Journal,  vol.  IV,  p.  205 ;  also  Dr.  A.  B.  Meyer, 
Bericht  iiber  neue  Einrichtungen  in  Dresden 
(1903),  p.  22.]  This  consists  of  a  large  metal 
cylinder  about  four  feet  across  and  eight  feet 
long  with  a  door  at  one  end  which  can  be  clamped 
on  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  the  receptacle  air- 
tight. Within  the  chamber  are  racks  upon  which 
the  tapestries  or  other  articles  to  be  disinfected 
can  be  laid.  A  pump  supplied  with  a  gauge  makes 
it  possible  to  create  a  complete  vacuum.  When 
this  has  been  obtained  the  carbon  disulphide 
fumes  are  introduced  and  allowed  to  remain  for 
twenty-four  or  forty-eight  hours  according  to  the 
condition  of  the  objects  to  be  cured.  At  the  end 
of  this  time  the  carbon  disulphide  fumes  can  be 
pumped  out  and  fresh  air  admitted  until  the  pres- 
sure in  the  chamber  equals  that  of  the  room,  when 
the  door  can  be  opened  and  the  tapestries  re- 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       133 

moved.  This  process  is  the  safest  both  for  the 
operator  and  for  the  objects,  as  well  as  the  most 
thorough.  In  certain  cases  where  for  any  reason 
it  is  deemed  inadvisable  to  use  the  chemical 
fumes,  the  vacuum  itself  if  sufficiently  protracted 
is  said  to  have  a  similar  effect.  In  one  of  the 
best  known  European  museums  there  is  a  large 
collection  of  peasant  costumes.  These  are  kept 
in  sealed  cases,  yet,  even  so,  the  danger  from 
moths  is  so  great  that  the  garments  are  period- 
ically painted  over  with  a  strong  solution  of 
arsenic,  and  the  guard  who  patrols  the  room  often 
shows  symptoms  of  arsenic  poisoning.  The  life 
of  the  garments  themselves  and  the  health  of 
those  in  charge  of  the  collection  would  be  greatly 
improved  could  the  museum  install  such  a  vacuum 
system  as  that  described  above.  Another  pre- 
ventive of  moths  which  is  sometimes  used  is 
newspaper.  It  does  not  affect  the  eggs  and  is 
only  useful  if  the  object  to  be  cared  for  can  be 
completely  covered.  In  case  rugs,  tapestries  or 
textiles  are  to  be  put  away  for  a  long  time  they 
should  be  rolled  on  a  wooden  stick  with  news- 
papers between  and  finally  done  up  thoroughly 
in  more  newspapers.  The  moths  dislike  printers* 
ink  and  will  keep  away  from  it. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  we  cannot  always  allow 
tapestries  to  be  hung  on  our  museum  walls  in  the 


134  THE  MUSEUM 

manner  in  which  they  ornamented  some  baronial 
hall  in  ancient  times.  But  even  the  most  durable 
fabric  has  its  weaknesses,  and  a  tapestry  will  col- 
lect dust  in  the  folds  and  will  soon  show  signs 
of  wear  in  those  spots  where  the  dust  has  lain. 
It  is  therefore  now  no  longer  considered  good 
museum  practice  to  hang  a  tapestry  from  a  rod 
or  from  hooks, — it  must  be  put  on  a  stretcher, 
as  is  done  with  a  painting,  so  that  there  shall 
not  be  an  unequal  pull  on  the  threads  and  if,  as 
often  happens,  the  tapestry  is  not  quite  square, 
then  the  framework  must  be  made  to  fit  exactly, 
so  that  there  may  be  no  strain  in  any  point,  al- 
though sometimes  the  tapestry  itself  can  be 
straightened  with  care.  If  the  tapestry  is  old 
or  valuable  a  linen  backing  is  often  advisable,  and 
this  for  two  reasons.  In  the  first  place,  if  properly 
put  on,  it  relieves  the  strain  on  the  threads  of  the 
tapestry,  and  in  the  second  place,  it  prevents  the 
dust  from  accumulating  on  the  threads  at  the 
back.  In  choosing  linen  for  a  backing  a  fine  close 
weave  is  important  and  a  sufficiently  heavy  quality 
so  that  it  will  bear  the  weight  put  upon  it.  The 
linen  should  be  shrunk  before  using.  It  should 
be  sewed  firmly  to  the  warp  threads  of  the  tapestry 
taking  care  that  there  is  no  slack.  In  case  there 
are  weak  places  in  the  tapestry  itself  these  can 
be  caught  onto  the  back  thus  relieving  the  strain. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       135 

It  is  much  better  and  safer  to  completely  back 
a  tapestry  than  to  reinforce  it  with  a  lattice  work 
of  strips  of  linen  as  is  sometimes  done.  Before 
leaving  this  subject,  a  word  of  warning  is  per- 
haps not  amiss.  Never  buy  a  tapestry  without 
seeing  the  back  of  it.  The  forging  of  tapestries 
is  a  very  difficult  and  expensive  process  which  is 
rarely  indulged  in,  but  the  unscrupulous  merchant 
will  acquire  a  few  torn  and  tattered  fragments 
and  will  have  them  pieced  together  with  great 
skill.  On  the  back  the  difference  in  technique  and 
in  the  quality  of  the  thread  is  apparent. 

Where  there  is  a  large  amount  of  dust  in  the 
atmosphere  of  a  city  it  is  often  advisable  to  cover 
the  tapestries  with  glass.  This  is  an  unfortunate 
expedient  because  of  the  reflection  in  the  glass 
and  because  of  the  expense,  weight,  and  the  dif- 
ficulty of  handling  large  sheets  of  plate  glass. 
But  the  greatest  danger  comes  from  moths,  who 
find  a  safe  harbor  behind  the  glass.  Glazed 
tapestries  should  be  frequently  aired  and  examined 
for  this  reason. 

There  are  numerous  methods  of  cleaning  textiles. 
(See  Carlotta  Brinckmann:  Die  Instandsetzung 
der  Raffael  Teppiche,  Museumskunde,  vol.  I,  p. 
34;  Die  Behandlung  Koptischer  Stoffe,  Museums- 
kunde, vol.  II,  p.  150.  Bottiger  and  Kohler, 
Uber  die  Pflege  gewirkter  Teppiche,  Museums- 


i36  THE  MUSEUM 

kunde,  vol.  Ill,  p.  205.  Jules  Guiffrey,  La  Con- 
servation et  la  Reparation  des  Tapisseries,  L'Art, 
vol.  LX,  pt.  2,  1901,  p.  341.)  The  Gobelins 
method  is  a  bath  of  running  cold  water,  but 
while  the  dyes  used  in  making  the  old  tapestries 
were  marvellous,  yet  by  this  process  a  small 
amount  of  color  is  unquestionably  lost.  A  much 
safer  method  is  the  use  of  bread  crumbs  and 
a  soft  brush.  This  is  long  and  laborious  but 
safer  than  the  above.  Certain  up-to-date  direc- 
tors have  tried  to  use  a  vacuum  cleaner,  but 
where  they  have  done  so  it  has  been  found  that 
the  friction  and  the  pull  of  a  strong  cleaner  took 
away  small  particles  of  the  wool  of  the  tapestry 
itself.  The  safest  way  is  to  use  a  hand  machine. 
A  cheese-cloth  placed  over  the  face  of  the  tapestry 
will  bear  the  friction  and  yet  be  open  enough  in 
weave  to  allow  the  dust  particles  to  pass  through. 
These  same  processes  may  be  used  for  the  care 
of  brocades,  velvets  and  other  textiles. 

Banners  or  flags  that  are  in  a  delicate  condi- 
tion may  be  shown  with  safety  if  mounted  between 
two  layers  of  cotton  net  such  as  is  used  in  ladies' 
dresses.  The  degree  of  decrepitude  will  indicate 
the  quality  of  net  to  be  used.  The  coarser  the 
mesh  the  less  prominently  it  will  show.  A  very 
important  and  very  badly  worn  flag  can  be 
mounted  between  layers  of  fine,  thin  chiffon.  This 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS  (    137 

fabric  comes  in  different  weights,  that  called 
mousseline  de  soie  (not  silk  muslin)  being  the 
best  adapted  for  the  purpose.  When  mounted, 
the  banners  should  always  be  hung  horizontally 
so  as  to  avoid  folds ;  hung  obliquely  they  are  much 
more  picturesque  but  they  give  out  sooner. 

The  care  of  laces  is  very  simple.  Dirt  is  here 
again  to  be  avoided,  for  the  small  brown  spots 
that  so  often  come  on  old  lace  are  due  to  dirt 
which  has  gradually  rotted  the  fabric.  Many 
kinds  of  lace  lose  much  of  their  character  if  they 
have  been  washed,  and  yet  the  museum  which 
allows  dirty  lace  to  come  into  its  collection  is  lay- 
ing seeds  of  trouble.  There  is  an  infection  from 
dirt  as  from  other  diseases,  and  rotting  of  some 
of  the  finest  pieces  may  result.  Lace  may  be 
washed  with  little  danger  if  carefully  done.  Only 
the  purest  of  white  soap  should  be  used,  and  this 
should  be  grated  and  dissolved  in  water.  The 
lace  to  be  washed  should  be  put  into  a  clean  white 
porcelain  bowl  and  covered  with  cold  water.  A 
small  amount  of  the  soap  solution  should  be 
added  and  the  bowl  set  in  a  moderate  oven  until 
the  water  is  thoroughly  hot,  not  boiling.  The 
gradual  warming  of  the  water  dissolves  the  dirt 
without  rubbing  or  injuring  the  delicate  threads 
of  the  lace  itself.  When  it  is  just  too  hot  to  handle 
take  it  out  and  allow  to  cool  slightly,  then  trans- 


138  THE  MUSEUM 

fer  the  lace  into  another  bowl  containing  clean 
water  of  the  same  temperature  and  rinse  the  lace 
thoroughly  by  stirring  it  around  well.  If  the 
lace  is  very  dirty  this  process  will  have  to  be 
repeated  several  times;  warming  the  rinsing  water 
on  the  lace  in  the  oven  is  also  very  helpful. 
Care  should  be  taken  not  to  break  any  threads, 
as  the  lace  when  wet  is  quite  heavy  and  must  be 
lifted  so  that  no  strain  comes  on  any  part.  If 
the  lace  is  very  yellow  it  may  be  bleached  by 
setting  in  water  in  a  jar  in  the  sun,  although  if 
the  lace  is  clean  the  yellow  color  will  do  no  harm. 
The  most  difficult  process  is  the  drying.  When 
the  lace  is  thoroughly  rinsed  it  should  be  pressed 
between  the  palms  of  the  hands  to  get  rid  of 
superfluous  water  and  then  picked  out  with  the 
greatest  care  and  infinite  patience  and  laid  out 
upon  a  clean  white  cloth  fastened  to  a  pillow. 
Tiny  pins  with  very  sharp  points  can  be  used  to 
stretch  it  into  place  on  the  pillow  and  every  part 
of  the  design  must  be  worked  into  shape  with  the 
fingers.  A  woman  used  to  handling  lace  is  very 
clever  at  this  and  the  piece  when  finished  often 
looks  quite  like  new.  The  use  of  a  hot  iron  is 
highly  inadvisable. 

Folds  in  tapestry,  lace  or  any  other  fabric  must 
be  guarded  against  as  far  as  possible.  If  this 
cannot  be  helped  the  position  of  the  crease  should 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       139 

be  changed  from  time  to  time  to  avoid  wear. 
The  museum  director  of  to-day  provides  for  his 
laces  screens  of  uniform  size  which  fit  a  storage 
case.  The  frames  are  made  of  quarter-inch  stock 
about  an  inch  and  a  half  wide  and  covered  with 
a  textile.  The  size  is  determined  by  the  size  of 
the  storage  case,  usually  about  18x24  inches. 
Certain  museums  use  a  linen,  either  blue  or  un- 
bleached, while  others  prefer  a  pongee  or  thin 
silk  to  cover  these  frames.  It  is  important,  of 
course,  that  the  color  should  be  fast  and  that  it 
should  be  one  that  will  show  the  laces  to  advan- 
tage. Usually  these  frames  fit  a  show  case  so 
that  an  exhibition  of  laces  is  easily  and  quickly 
arranged.  The  laces  are  basted  to  the  cloth  on 
the  frame  with  small  Stitches  at  fairly  long  inter- 
vals and  with  very  fine  thread.  They  must  always 
be  put  on  the  inside  of  the  frame  so  that  the 
wooden  edge  acts  as  a  protection.  This  also  has 
the  advantage  of  making  a  frame  for  the  textile 
at  the  time  of  exhibition. 

Linens  and  embroideries  are  usually  kept  in 
drawers.  Tissue  paper,  preferably  blue,  as  the 
bleach  used  in  the  white  is  harmful,  laid  between, 
is  valuable  in  preventing  rubbing  and  also  helps 
keep  gold  and  silver  threads  in  embroidery  from 
tarnishing.  White  beeswax  put  in  with  white  satin 
is  said  to  prevent  its  turning  yellow.  Small  pieces 


i4o  THE  MUSEUM 

of  textile  fabrics  are  usually  mounted  on  frames 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  laces.  Larger  pieces 
are  stored  in  large  flat  trays  or  drawers. 

Storage  cases  need  not  be  beautiful,  but  it  is 
very  important  that  they  should  be  dust  proof. 
Wooden  cases  are  much  easier  to  handle  and 
wooden  trays  are  less  likely  to  buckle  under  weight 
than  iron  or  steel  ones.  As  far  as  fireproof  quali- 
ties are  concerned  there  is  not  much  to  choose, 
for  while  the  wood  will  burn,  the  iron  conducts 
the  heat  to  such  an  extent  that  the  contents  of  an 
iron  case  are  very  likely  to  become  charred  if 
exposed  to  excessive  heat. 

WOODEN  OBJECTS. — Under  this  head  may  be  in- 
cluded all  articles  of  furniture,  wood  carving, 
panelling,  wooden  chests  and  even  sculptures  in 
wood.  All  are  subject  to  the  same  disease  and 
to  the  same  treatment.  The  pest  which  commonly 
attacks  wood  is  the  little  worm  whose  tracks  may 
be  found  in  all  old  pieces  and  whose  living  presence 
may  be  detected  by  the  little  particles  of  wood 
that  drop  from  the  hole  in  which  the  worm  works. 
A  light  tapping  near  a  suspected  spot  usually 
brings  out  the  particles  of  sawdust  and  then  the 
piece  must  be  quickly  isolated  and  treated,  to  pre- 
vent the  pest  spreading  to  nearby  objects.  If 
this  is  not  done,  a  whole  room  is  likely  to  become 
infected  in  a  very  short  time.  In  the  case  of 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       141 

small  objects  an  operation  similar  to  that  used 
in  the  treatment  of  tapestries  is  followed.  A  box 
is  made  of  zinc  carefully  soldered  together  at 
the  sides  so  as  to  be  perfectly  tight.  Around  the 
top  a  gutter  is  arranged,  while  inside  is  a  wooden 
rack  raised  a  few  inches  from  the  bottom  of  the 
box.  A  cover  is  provided  which  fits  down  into 
the  gutter  at  the  top  of  the  box.  A  saucer  of 
carbon  disulphide  is  set  in,  the  rack  put  in  place 
with  the  object  to  be  disinfected  upon  it,  and  the 
cover  is  put  on.  Then  water  is  poured  into  the 
gutter  so  that  no  air  can  penetrate  the  box.  This 
forms  a  fairly  tight  chamber  in  which  the  object 
to  be  disinfected  must  remain  from  one  to  two 
weeks  according  to  its  condition.  If  it  is  given 
long  enough  the  eggs  as  well  as  the  living  worms 
will  be  destroyed.  If  the  vacuum  apparatus  de- 
scribed above  under  textiles  is  used  the  time 
needed  for  tmVprocess  is  much  shorter. 

Many  museums  have  used  the  "petroleum  bath" 
with  varying  success.  It  seems  to  have  been 
demonstrated  that  to  thoroughly  soak  a  piece  of 
furniture  in  petroleum  will  kill  the  worms.  The 
petroleum  does  not,  however,  kill  the  eggs  and  the 
process  has  frequently  to  be  repeated.  There  are 
many  disadvantages  in  this.  In  the  first  place 
the  petroleum  gives  a  very  disagreeable  odor  in 
the  exhibition  galleries;  secondly,  the  object 


142  THE  MUSEUM 

treated  in  this  manner  becomes  highly  inflam- 
mable, and  thirdly  and  most  important,  the  petro- 
leum not  only  injures  any  finish  there  may  be  on 
the  wood,  but  darkens  the  wood  itself  disagree- 
ably. 

A  much  better  and  simpler  treatment,  which 
can  be  used  without  injury  to  the  finish  of  the 
object,  whether  it  be  the  ancient  polished  surface, 
or  gilding,  or  polychromy,  is  the  application  of 
cedar  oil  to  the  affected  parts.  This  may  be  put 
on  with  a  brush  in  case  the  area  to  be  treated 
is  large,  but  when  it  is  possible,  a  surer  method 
is  to  inject  the  oil  into  the  hole  itself.  So  far 
as  has  been  proved  the  cedar  oil  will  not  injure 
color,  and  this  method  may  thus  be  used  not  only 
in  caring  for  polychromed  statuettes,  but  also  for 
paintings  on  panel. 

The  care  of  the  gothic  polychromed  sculpture 
which  is  slowly  finding  its  way  into  our  museums 
is  a  serious  matter.  The  changes  in  the  degree  of 
humidity  in  the  air,  which  make  the  climate  in 
this  country  so  interesting,  affect  most  seriously 
these  lovely  objects.  The  swelling  and  contract- 
ing of  the  wood  loosens  the  paint,  which  comes 
off  in  little  flakes.  The  process  continues  even 
when  these  particles  are  back  in  place  and  it  is 
sometimes  most  discouraging  to  find  one's  efforts 
apparently  vain.  The  quality  of  the  adhesive 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       143 

used  and  the  manner  of  applying  it  are  of  the 
utmost  importance. 

Wooden  objects  which  come  from  excavations 
often  need  special  treatment.  Impregnation  with 
paraffin  is  one  of  the  simplest  things  that  can  be 
done  and  is  quite  efficacious. 

IRONWORK. — Under  this  head  it  is  necessary  to 
make  a  distinction  between  the  different  classes 
of  objects,  for  while  the  enemy  is  the  same  in 
every  case,  the  remedy  is  different. 

In  the  great  European  collections  of  armor, 
a  man  is  kept  at  work  constantly  burnishing  the 
pieces  in  rotation  in  a  manner  very  similar  to  that 
used  by  his  ancestors  in  preparing  the  knight  for 
battle.  As  each  piece  is  freed  from  rust  it  is 
coated  with  a  thin  filament  of  pure  oil,  not  kero- 
sene, for  that  has  been  proved  to  increase  rather 
than  diminish  rust.  Finger  marks  cause  rust 
quicker  than  anything  else,  so  that  in  handling 
a  collection  of  this  kind  gloves  are  necessary. 
Old  locks,  keys,  etc.,  may  be  freed  from  rust  by 
boiling  in  water  and  scraping,  and  should  then  be 
treated  with  oil  to  keep  them  in  condition. 

Exhaustive  experiments  have  been  tried  in  the 
chemical  laboratory  of  the  Berlin  museums.  It 
has  been  proved  that  an  object  once  thoroughly 
freed  from  rust  and  not  handled  will  show  no 
signs  of  returning  trouble.  The  difficulty  is,  there- 


144  THE  MUSEUM 

fore,  to  free  it  from  rust.  Taking  an  iron  dagger 
which  tame  from  some  excavations  near  Berlin, 
Professor  Rathgen  first  removed  as  much  of  the 
rust  as  was  possible  in  the  ordinary  way  and  then 
used  a  dentist's  buzzer  to  obliterate  all  remain- 
ing traces.  The  result  was  a  disagreeable,  pock- 
marked, shiny,  shapeless  thing  which  had  lost  all 
character  by  the  process.  It  was  so  unsatisfactory 
that  no  object  has  ever  been  exhibited  on  which 
the  process  was  used,  and  the  experimenters  are 
trying  to  discover  some  means  of  preserving  the 
"antique  look"  without  risking  deterioration. 
The  usual  method  of  securing  this  result  is  by 
painting  the  object  as  it  comes  out  of  the  ground 
with  paraffin  or  varnish.  The  theory  of  this  is 
that  rust  grows  by  oxidation  and  that  an  object 
kept  away  from  the  air  will  not  become  worse. 
The  effect  is  very  ugly,  and  the  object  has  almost 
as  "false"  an  appearance  as  the  too  much  cleaned 
specimen.  There  is  an  electrolytic  method  which 
bids  fair  to  prove  the  solution  of  the  whole  prob- 
lem. The  surface  rust  is  partially  removed  by 
this  and  the  progress  of  the  disease  is  at  least 
temporarily  arrested.  Often  iron  objects  recov- 
ered from  excavation  are  in  a  condition  where 
even  their  form  is  threatened  because  of  the  cor- 
roding action  of  the  rust.  In  these  cases,  the 
varnish  or  paraffin  method  is  the  only  satisfactory 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       145 

one,  for  the  varnish  acts  as  a  mastic  to  hold  the 
pieces  together  and  at  the  same  time  by  keeping 
the  air  out  prevents  further  decomposition. 

BRONZES. — Of  all  objects  in  our  museums  the 
most  difficult  to  care  for  are  bronzes.  These, 
especially  such  as  have  been  for  a  long  time  buried 
in  the  earth,  are  subject  to  disease.  One  form 
of  this  is  highly  contagious  and  likely  to  be  fatal 
to  the  object  it  attacks,  and  the  others,  while  not 
communicable,  are  yet  dangerous  unless  cared  for. 
Should  any  bronze  in  a  collection  show  signs  of 
the  first  of  these  diseases,  it  must  be  isolated  at 
once  or  all  the  other  objects  in  the  same  case  are 
liable  to  become  infected.  So  far,  no  cure  has 
been  discovered  for  this  disease  although  its 
progress  may  be  arrested  by  placing  the  object  in 
an  air-tight  case  with  pans  of  calcium  chloride 
in  the  bottom  to  absorb  any  excess  moisture  in 
the  air  of  the  case.  The  first  sign  of  the  disease 
comes  in  pale  green  spots  which  gradually  grow 
and  spread  until  the  whole  surface  of  the  object 
is  covered  and  a  fine  green  dust  falls  about  it. 
A  paraffin  coat  holds  back  the  damage  and  if  the 
case  is  not  bad  an  electrolytic  operation  may  cure 
it.  The  French  process  is  the  most  satisfactory 
and  simple  of  any,  and  will  be  found  fully  de- 
scribed in  the  introduction  to  the  catalogue  of 
Bronzes  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  by  Gisela 


146  THE  MUSEUM 

M.  A.  Richter.  The  other  forms  are  the  so-called 
"cracking"  patina,  the  warty  patina,  the  scaly 
patina  and  the  pale  blue  patina.  The  most  com- 
plete and  exhaustive  study  of  this  subject  will  be 
found  in  the  little  book  called  "The  Preservation 
of  Antiquities,"  by  Dr.  Friedrich  Rathgen,  men- 
tioned above. 

TIN. — The  tin  disease  is  another  very  serious 
malady  which  is  so  far  little  understood.  It  comes 
about  through  exposing  objects  containing  tin  to 

ftoo  great  cold  and  consists  in  the  reduction  of  the 
metal  tin  into  the  salt  tin.  The  salt  cannot, 
however,  be  changed  back  into  a  metal  without 
bringing  the  substance  to  the  melting  point.  •  It 
is  obvious,  therefore,  that  this  would  be  an  im- 
possible method  to  pursue  with  museum  pieces 
which  are  preserved  for  their  shape  or  modelling. 
Should  the  little  white  particles  which  denote  the 
presence  of  the  disease  appear  on  any  museum 
piece,  care  must  be  taken  that  the  temperature  of 
the  room  in  which  the  piece  is  kept  should  never 
go  below  60°  Fahrenheit. 

SILVER. — Museum  silver  can  best  be  cleaned  by 
the  use  of  ammonia,  a  soft  brush,  very  hot  water 
and  a  soft  chamois  skin.  A  brilliant  polish  is  not 
desirable.  The  usual  cleaning  compounds  all 
scratch  the  surface  more  or  less. 

MUSEUM   CASES. — Certain   general   principles 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       147 

can  be  laid  down  in  regard  to  cases.  Beyond  these 
each  museum  will  have  to  find  out  by  experience 
what  to  do  and  what  to  avoid. 

Some  twenty  years  ago  came  the  first  agitation 
in  favor  of  metal  cases.  The  advocates  of  these 
contended  that  they  were:  i.  safer  in  case  of 
fire,  2.  more  dust-proof,  and  3.  better  adapted 
for  showing  objects  because  the  frames  were 
thinner  and  less  conspicuous.  The  subject  has 
caused  much  controversy,  but  the  present  opinion 
seems  to  be  that  so  far  as  fire  danger  is  concerned 
one  type  of  exhibition  case  is  as  bad  as  another. 
A  metal  case  is  more  expensive  to  build,  but  is 
also  more  permanently  satisfactory  in  our  change- 
able climate  because  not  subject  to  the  same  con- 
traction and  expansion  experienced  by  wood.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  building  of  wooden  cases  has 
been  affected  by  the  design  of  the  metal  case  and 
the  wooden  framework  for  the  glass  can  now  be 
made  as  light  as  is  desired  and  as  is  proportioned 
to  the  size  of  the  case.  Cases  as  well  as  other 
museum  equipment  are  now  considered  more 
beautiful  and  suitable  if  they  are  without  orna- 
ment. The  plainer  and  less  conspicuous  the  lines 
of  the  case  and  the  finer  and  quieter  the  grain 
of  the  wood  and  the  finish,  the  better  it  fulfils  its 
function  in  setting  forth  the  objects  within.  In 
art  museums  to-day  three  types  of  cases  are  used, 


i48  THE  MUSEUM 

the  wall  case  (see  Morgan  collection  in  Metro- 
politan), the  desk  case  (see  miniature  cases, 
ditto),  and  the  free  standing  case.  The  propor- 
tions of  these  cases  must  be  studied  in  each  in- 
stance according  to  the  objects  they  are  to  contain 
and  the  size  of  the  room  in  which  they  are  to 
be  exhibited.  A  combination  of  wood  and  iron 
seems  to  prove  most  satisfactory  in  building  these 
cases,  and  they  can  be  made  with  all  kinds  of 
mechanical  devices  to  facilitate  the  work  of  the 
curator.  Thus  desk  cases  are  made  with  finely 
adjusted  weights  which  work  in  the  legs  of  the 
case  in  such  a  way  that  the  top  will  remain  open 
at  any  desired  angle,  and  free-standing  table  cases 
have  sliding  decks  so  carefully  adjusted  that  they 
can  be  pulled  out  and  pushed  in  without  jarring 
the  objects  in  the  case.  Then  there  is  the  system  in 
the  McLean  case,  an  adaptation  of  the  type  de- 
veloped by  Dr.  G.  E.  Pazaurek,  Museumskunde, 
II,  79,  where  the  whole  top  can  be  lifted  up  by 
means  of  a  crank  which  works  on  a  series  of 
ratcheted  posts  which  disappear  into  the  legs  when 
the  case  is  closed.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that 
some  of  these  devices  are  merely  ingenious  while 
others  are  really  useful.  (For  discussions  of 
these  subjects  the  reader  is  referred  to  Dr.  A.  B. 
Meyer's  Reisestudien  and  Berichte;  Museums 
Journal,  VI,  231,  403,  to  Dr.  Foy's  description 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       149 

of  the  Rautenstrauch-Joerst  Museum  of  Cologne 
in  Ethnologia,  and  to  the  papers  by  Mr.  L.  E. 
Rowe  and  Mr.  H.  L.  Madison  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  American  Association  of  Museums, 
1916.) 

There  are  two  really  important  matters  to  be 
considered  in  building  cases.  One  is  that  they 
should  lock  securely,  and  the  second,  that  they 
should  be  dust-proof.  For  the  first  of  these  one 
must  be  cautious  in  the  selection  of  the  hardware 
on  a  case.  A  very  good  type  of  lock  is  one  which 
throws  three  bolts,  one  at  the  top  of  the  case,  one 
at  the  bottom  of  the  case  and  one  in  the  middle. 
This  has  the  advantage  of  holding  a  large  door 
firmly  closed  as  it  could  not  he  held  with  the 
ordinary  lock.  A  small  keyhole  is  desirable  and 
a  complicated  system  of  tumblers  on  the  order  of 
a  yale  lock  is  also  an  advantage.  A  large  number 
of  keys  is  to  be  avoided.  Each  museum  should 
have  its  locks  made  to  order  with  a  minimum 
number  of  keys  or  with  a  master  key,  and  it  is 
desirable  that  the  firm  who  makes  the  keys  should 
be  located  in  some  other  city  and  should  not  know 
for  whom  they  are  made. 

Dust-proofing  may  be  accomplished  in  various 
ways.  Perhaps  the  simplest  is  that  in  which  the 
door  is  provided  with  a  little  tongue  which  fits 
into  a  groove  in  the  frame.  The  groove  has  to 


i5o  THE  MUSEUM 

be  made  larger  than  the  tongue  in  order  to  allow 
for  shrinkage  or  swelling,  but  a  layer  of  cotton 
or  linen  felt  (never  wool  in  any  form)  may  be 
inserted  to  stop  any  possible  passage  of  dust.  If 
this  is  saturated  with  a  disinfectant  it  is  even  better 
in  keeping  out  insects.  In  metal  cases  the  door 
is  usually  made  to  shut  against  the  frame,  and  a 
layer  of  felt  is  supposed  to  be  sufficient  to  keep 
out  dust. 

An  excellent  type  of  flat,  shallow  case  attached 
to  a  wall  for  the  exhibition  of  prints  may  be  seen 
in  the  Fogg  Museum,  Cambridge.  It  should  be 
noted  that  in  this  case  much  space  is  saved  by 
having  two  doors  hung  on  one  specially  con- 
structed hinge. 

Storage  cases  for  Prints  will  be  discussed  under 
the  separate  heading  of  Engravings. 

In  a  number  of  European  museums  attempts 
have  been  made  to  build  cases  which  should  har- 
monize in  design  with  the  objects  they  contain. 
The  institution  which  has  carried  out  this  idea 
most  extensively  is  the  National  Museum  in 
Munich.  Here  we  find  cases  designed  to  harmo- 
nize with  the  Byzantine,  the  Romanesque,  the 
Gothic,  Renaissance,  Rococo  and  even  modern 
periods.  Such  a  procedure  is  of  doubtful  useful- 
ness and  does  not  accord  with  the  latest  dictates 
of  museum  practice.  A  case  is  not  a  part  of 


HEAVY  AND   UNSUCCESSFUL   CASES   DESIGNED   IN  A   "  PERIOD," 
BAVARIAN   NATIONAL  MUSEUM,  MUNICH,   GERMANY 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       151 

the  exhibit,  it  is  simply  a  means  of  housing  safely 
the  objects  to  be  shown.  A  case  designed  in  a 
period  may  or  may  not  be  successful.  If  it  is,  it 
may  add  materially  to  the  effectiveness  of  the 
room.  But  that  particular  case  will  be  useless 
anywhere  else,  and  if  it  is  not  successful  it  is 
offensive.  Thus  in  the  National  Museum  in 
Munich  the  Byzantine  cases  and  one  Rococo  case 
are  excellent — the  Renaissance  cases  in  the  Italian 
room  are  'very  poor.  In  the  Musee  des  Arts 
Decoratifs  in  Paris  in  the  rooms  devoted  to 
modern  art  it  was  decided  to  give  the  furniture 
designer  an  opportunity  to  try  his  skill  at  design- 
ing a  case  which  would  harmonize  in  spirit  with 
the  modern  furniture  shown  in  the  room.  The 
result  was  one  of  the  worst  types  of  cases  imagin- 
able which  even  the  authorities  of  that  museum 
regard  as  a  mistake.  The  worst  feature  of  it  is 
that  it  is  in  no  way  dust-proof  and  it  is  very  easy 
to  break  into.  Both  of  these  matters  might  be 
remedied  without  influencing  the  design  were  that 
good  enough  to  be  worth  the  trouble. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  matters  that  confronts 
the  director  of  a  museum  situated  in  an  old  build- 
ing, crowded  for  room,  is  the  utilization  of  the 
space  under  the  windows.  An  example  of  an 
excellent  solution  of  this  problem  is  to  be  found 
in  the  Ashmolean  Museum  at  Oxford.  Here  the 


152  THE  MUSEUM 

windows  come  quite  low  in  the  wall  and  at  rather 
short  intervals  so  that  the  exhibition  space  is  much 
restricted  and  the  glare  in  the  eyes  of  the  visitor 
is  unpleasant.  To  obviate  this,  a  case  has  been 
built  partly  into  the  window  opening,  with  a  solid 


WINDOW 


-MIRROR 
•WOODEN  PANEL 


WINDOW  CASE  IN  ASHMOLEAN  MUSEUM 

back.  Above  the  case  and  on  the  inside  of  the 
window  casing  is  a  wooden  panel  which  keeps 
the  light  from  shining  directly  into  the  face  of  the 
visitor.  Behind  this  panel  mirrors  are  arranged 
which  throw  the  light  from  the  window  directly 
down  into  the  case,  thus  securing  excellent  light 
while  at  the  same  time  cutting  off  the  glare.  The 
rest  of  the  room  is  perfectly  lighted  by  the  upper 
part  of  the  window. 


RARELY   SUCCESSFUL   CASE  DESIGNED   FOR   A   RICHLY 

DECORATED    ROOM,    BAVARIAN   NATIONAL   MUSEUM, 

MUNICH,   GERMANY 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS      153 

Cases  should  be  made  from  museum  specifica- 
tions, never  from  those  used  by  a  department 
store.  Experience  will  soon  show  how  a  case 
should  open.  The  usual  wall  case  with  a  wide 
door  will  need  to  have  some  support  when  open, 
but  it  is  much  easier  to  arrange  such  a  case  than 
one  in  which  only  the  narrow  ends  are  made  to 
open.  The  free-standing  high  table  case  which 
is  to  have  exhibits  on  four  sides  is  hard  to  arrange. 
The  McLean  system  of  raising  the  top  has  the 
advantage  of  giving  access  to  all  sides,  but  unless 
the  top  can  be  raised  the  entire  height  of  the  glass, 
there  is  sometimes  difficulty  with  big  objects.  If 
the  type  of  case  with  doors  at  either  end  be  used, 
it  is  convenient  to  have  the  bottom  of  the  case 
made  to  slide  out  to  permit  easier  arrangement. 

The  furniture  inside  a  case  and  the  question 
of  whether  the  bottom  of  a  desk  case  should  be 
flat  or  slope  with  the  glass  are  matters  of  in- 
dividual preference.  Glass  shelves  are  usually 
used,  although  if  there  is  the  slightest  vibration 
in  the  museum  the  objects  cannot  be  kept  in  line 
if  they  are  standing  on  glass.  Wooden  shelves 
are  lovely  as  a  background  for  many  kinds  of 
objects.  In  wall  cases  a  form  of  adjustable 
bracket  support  is  used  for  the  shelves.  In  free- 
standing cases  small  glass  columns  usually  bear 
the  weight  of  glass  shelves  when  these  are  used. 


154  THE  MUSEUM 

If  the  museum  is  cramped  for  space  glass  shelves 
must  be  used  because  many  more  objects  can  be 
shown  with  them,  but  the  fact  of  their  trans- 
parency makes  the  effect  of  the  case  confusing. 
The  museum  visitor  sees  everything  in  the  case 
at  a  glance,  and  in  order  to  see  any  individual 
thing  must  focus  seriously  upon  it.  Where  the 
inside  of  a  case  is  fitted  with  wooden  shelves  in 
pyramid  form  this  is  not  the  impression  and  the 
arrangement  in  groups  is  greatly  facilitated. 

For  small  objects  cases  made  all  of  glass  with- 
out wooden  framework  are  often  used.  These 
are  best  held  together  with  a  special  kind  of 
cement.  Where  this  cannot  be  obtained  nickeled 
clamps  at  the  corners  may  be  substituted.  Care 
should  be  taken  that  this  type  of  case  is  not  too 
commercial  in  design.  A  glass  bell  or  convex 
glass  corners  on  a  museum  case  distort  the  objects 
within  and  should  never  be  used. 

Storage  cases  should  be  of  wood  rather  than 
metal  because,  should  a  fire  occur,  the  metal  con- 
ducts the  heat  to  such  an  extent  that  the  contents 
of  a  metal  case  are  often  charred,  whereas  if  the 
case  were  of  wood  the  fire  might  be  controlled  be- 
fore any  damage  was  done  to  the  inside  of  the  case. 

LABELLING. — In  labelling  minor  arts  the  direc- 
tor has  much  latitude.  It  is  usually  customary  to 
place  upon  the  outside  of  a  case  a  label  telling 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       155 

the  general  nature  of  its  contents,  as,  AMERICAN 
GLASS,  XVIII  AND  EARLY  XIX  CEN- 
TURIES. This  is  sometimes  painted  on  the  case, 
but  if  this  is  done  no  other  material  can  be  ex- 
hibited in  the  case  until  it  has  been  repainted. 
The  Metropolitan  has  perfected  the  printing  of 
glass  labels  which  are  very  satisfactory  for  such 
work.  They  may  be  hung  inside  the  case  and 
are  legible,  unobtrusive  and  do  not  obstruct  the 
view  of  objects  in  the  case.  Separate  smaller 
labels  harmonizing  in  tone  with  the  background 
of  the  case  may  be  used  for  individual  objects. 
These  should  always  be  placed  in  a  definite  rela- 
tion to  what  they  describe.  Black  labels  printed  in 
gold  are  not  as  legible  as  light-colored  ones  printed 
in  dark  ink.  Hand-written  labels  always  look 
more  untidy  than  printed  or  hand-painted  ones. 

Where  the  objects  to  be  labelled  are  very  small, 
Egyptian  scarabs,  gems,  coins  or  the  like,  and 
there  is  much  to  say  about  them,  numbers  beside 
the  objects  referring  to  one  central  label  may  be 
used. 

Holders  of  some  kind  for  labels  in  cases  are 
often  necessary.  The  most  convenient  and  the 
simplest  are  made  of  wire  to  exactly  fit  the  label, 
but  if  these  are  not  at  hand  a  small  block  of  wood 
glued  to  the  lower  part  of  the  back  of  the  label 
holds  it  up  nicely. 


156  THE  MUSEUM 

Where  it  is  desired  to  affix  the  label  to  a 
marble  or  wooden  base  a  compound  of  wax  and 
balsam  fir  described  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
American  Association  of  Museums,  1915,  p.  111 
may  be  used.  This  does  not  leave  any  mark 
upon  either  substance  and  is  easily  removed  if 
desired.  It  is  used  in  a  number  of  European 
museums  very  successfully. 

The  subject  of  labels  has  been  exhaustively  dis- 
cussed at  the  meetings  of  the  American  Associa- 
tion of  Museums  especially  in  the  years  1910  and 
1911,  and  good  authority  can  be  cited  for  any 
procedure. 

The  subject  matter  on  a  label  should  answer 
the  general  questions  of  the  visitor  and  furnish 
sufficient  technical  information  to  interest  the 
scholar. 

SCULPTURE 

The  cleaning  of  marble  sculpture,  like  the  re- 
storing of  paintings,  should  only  be  undertaken 
by  an  expert.  Soap  should  never  be  used  on 
marble,  as  grease  of  any  kind  discolors  the  surface 
and  gives  it  a  peculiar  shiny  appearance.  Warm 
water  and  ammonia  can  often  be  used,  especially 
on  a  polished  marble.  Experts,  however,  use  a 
solution  of  muriatic  acid  which  quickly  removes 
all  spots.  The  trick  comes  in  knowing  how  strong 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS      157 

it  can  be  used  without  destroying  the  surface,  and 
in  washing  it  off  afterward.  Whiting  is  some- 
times used  but  with  rather  unsatisfactory  results. 
Of  course,  ancient  marbles  which  have  acquired 
a  patine  from  burial  in  the  ground  would  never 
be  cleaned  at  all  beyond  removing  the  surface 
dirt  with  a  brush  or  cloth.  Many  museums  use 
a  feather  duster  in  cleaning.  This  is  a  mistake 
for  the  little  stiff  part  of  the  feather  is  apt  to  be 
very  scratchy  and  may  do  some  injury.  Much 
better  is  a  painter's  dust  brush. 

In  the  matter  of  the  restoration  of  sculpture, 
fashion  is  discouraging  more  and  more  any  at- 
tempts in  this  direction.  It  has  been  said  that  a 
statue  with  a  broken  nose  is  much  more  beautiful 
than  one  with  perfect  features  because  the  imagin- 
ation can  supply  an  infinitely  finer  nose  than  any 
which  an  artist  could  achieve.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
the  Albertinum  in  Dresden  is  setting  the  example 
of  the  ideal  way  of  handling  sculpture.  Among 
the  many  fine  marbles  this  museum  possesses,  few 
are  in  perfect  condition;  some  are  Roman  copies 
of  Greek  works;  some  could  obviously  be  restored 
only  in  one  way.  Where  fragments  are  present, 
they  are  pieced  together  so  far  as  there  is  no 
manner  of  doubt  as  to  their  position.  The  moment 
any  doubt  is  felt,  a  plaster  cast  is  taken  of  the 
whole  figure  and  of  any  parts,  and  the  pieces  in 


158  THE  MUSEUM 

plaster  are  fitted  together  according  to  the  idea 
of  the  scholar  who  is  working  on  the  problem. 
This  restored  cast  is  then  placed  on  exhibition 
close  to  the  original  and  carefully  labelled  so  that 
the  public  can  easily  see  which  is  which.  In  this 
way,  with  any  change  in  opinion  the  cast  can 
easily  be  altered  without  disturbing  the  original. 
Photographs  of  similar  figures  or  groups  are  also 
provided  for  comparison.  In  the  case  of  Roman 
copies  of  Greek  works,  casts  of  other  copies  of 
the  same  work  are  shown,  and  there  is  usually 
some  member  of  the  staff  at  work  trying  to  re- 
construct from  these  various  copies  the  exact  ap- 
pearance of  the  original.  It  is  only  the  exceptional 
collection  in  this  country,  however,  which  is  rich 
enough  in  this  class  of  material  to  be  faced  by 
this  contingency. 

When  it  comes  to  mounting  sculpture,  the  ques- 
tion of  the  height  of  the  base  on  which  it  is  to 
be  shown  is  of  prime  importance.  (R.  F.  Martin, 
Some  Notes  on  the  Relationship  Existing  between 
Statue  and  Pedestal  in  Classical  and  Renaissance 
Times,  Museums  Journal,  vol.  IV,  p.  333.)  No 
definite  rule  can  be  set  down,  as  each  piece  differs 
from  every  other.  An  excellent  device  is  the  use 
of  the  so-called  "tiering  machine/'  a  valuable  ad- 
junct to  any  museum.  This  machine,  developed 
for  commercial  purposes,  is  composed  of  a  plat- 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       159 

form  on  wheels,  which  can  be  raised  by  means  of 
a  crank  to  any  desired  height  up  to  seven  or  eight 
feet.  The  crank  works  very  easily,  as  do  the 
wheels,  so  that  it  is  quite  possible  to  put  your 
marble  upon  the  platform,  drag  it  to  the  spot 
where  it  is  to  be  exhibited,  raise  the  platform  to  the 
height  of  the  pedestal  and  transfer  the  object  to  it. 
But  one  of  the  greatest  advantages  of  this  machine 
is  that  you  can  test  the  height  you  are  going  to 
want  for  your  base.  Put  the  statue  on  the  plat- 
form, take  it  to  the  place  where  it  is  to  be  ex- 
hibited, have  an  attendant  work  the  crank,  raising 
and  lowering  the  platform  till  you  are  sure  of  the 
exact  spot  where  it  looks  the  best,  take  the 
measurement  of  that  height  and  then  order  your 
pedestal.  You  will  be  certain  to  have  no  re- 
grets. 

Bases  for  statues  may  be  built  of  wood,  and 
should  be  provided  with  strong  casters,  so  that 
it  will  be  possible  to  move  them  in  cleaning  with- 
out too  great  difficulty.  Marble  bases  are  ex- 
cessively expensive  and  rarely  an  improvement. 
Should  square  marble  shafts  be  used  for  the 
mounting  of  busts,  however,  it  is  well  to  remem- 
ber that  the  grain  of  the  marble  on  two  sides  will 
show  long  stripes  of  color  and  on  the  other  two 
sides,  tiny  flecks.  If  you  desire  to  make  your  busts 
look  as  though  they-  were  higher  up,  place  the 


160  THE  MUSEUM 

striped  side  to  the  front.  The  other  side  will  look 
at  least  two  inches  lower. 

Pedestals  for  busts  are  difficult  to  proportion 
properly.  They  must  not  be  too  wide  at  the  top 
or  they  look  clumsy,  and  if  they  are  too  narrow 
for  their  height,  must  be  weighted  at  the  bottom 
so  as  not  to  tip  over  too  easily.  Small  busts  can 
best  be  shown  on  brackets.  The  height  is  de- 
termined by  the  position  of  the  eyes,  which  should 
be  on  the  level  with  those  of  the  beholder,  if  the 
bust  is  life  size.  There  are  exceptions  to  this 
rule,  however,  and  the  general  appearance  of  the 
room  as  well  as  the  size  of  the  bust  must  be  taken 
into  consideration  in  planning  the  pedestals. 

The  latest  experiment,  which  is  being  tried  in  the 
new  classical  wing  of  the  Metropolitan  Museum, 
is  that  of  casting  pedestals  in  cement  to  imitate 
stone.  These  have  all  the  properties  of  stone  but 
are  cheaper  to  build  and  lighter  to  handle,  being 
hollow  internally.  They  are  substantial  in  appear- 
ance. Their  durability  has,  of  course,  not  yet  been 
tested. 

CASTS 

A  collection  of  reproductions  in  plaster  to  sup- 
plement original  material  is  desirable.  To  simply 
store  such  a  collection  as  is  done  in  many  Euro- 
pean museums  is  a  waste  of  material.  Among 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS      161 

the  visitors  to  our  museums,  there  are  very  few 
who  are  studying  the  history  of  sculpture  so  pro- 
foundly that  a  crowded  or  careless  arrangement 
which  would  be  intelligible  to  a  specialist  is  of 
any  interest.  On  the  contrary,  the  purpose  of 
a  cast  collection  is  to  stimulate  enthusiasm  in  the 
study  of  art  among  all  visitors.  It  is,  therefore, 
essential  that  an  interesting  group  should  be 
chosen  and  that  it  should  be  well  arranged.  The 
same  amount  of  care  and  money  should  be  spent 
on  the  installation  of  a  series  of  casts  as  of 
originals,  if  the  public  is  to  understand  and  enjoy 
them.  (G.  Treu,  Die  Sammlung  der  Abgiisse  im 
Albertinum  zu  Dresden,  Archaeologischer  An- 
zeiger,  1891,  No.  i.) 

The  first  point  to  be  observed  is  the  same  in 
this  as  in  every  other  class  of  material, — beware 
of  overcrowding.  The  museum  of  comparative 
sculpture  of  the  Trocadero,  admirable  as  it  is  in 
many  ways,  has  this  fault.  We  are  faced  by  an 
overwhelming  quantity  of  objects  all  clamoring 
for  our  attention  simultaneously.  A  few  well- 
chosen  figures  illustrate  the  artistic  development 
sufficiently;  the  rest  should  be  stored  and  brought 
out  only  for  lectures  or  for  diversity. 

Perhaps  the  most  discussed  point  in  connection 
with  a  cast  collection  is  the  desirability  or  unde- 
sirability  of  coloring  the  casts  to  suggest  the 


i6a  THE  MUSEUM 

material  of  the  original  statue.  (B.  Daun,  Die 
Bemahlung  antiker  Gipsabgiisse,  Museumskunde, 
XI,  p.  193.)  In  considering  this  question  the 
preservation  of  the  cast  must  be  thought  of.  A 
cast  is  by  nature  porous.  It  catches  and  holds 
dust  very  easily.  Unless  it  has  been  treated  in 
some  manner  dust  can  only  be  removed  by  the 
use  of  some  elaborate  method  like  the  starch 
process,  which  was  developed  in  the  Albertinum  in 
Dresden,  the  receipt  being  as  follows: 

In  order  to  starch  a  life-size  bust,  take  about 
one  pound  of  clean,  dry  wheat  starch  and  pour 
over  it  a  scant  pint  of  cold  water.  Stir  until  lumps 
are  gone  and  the  starch  and  water  are  thoroughly 
mixed.  Place  on  the  stove  an  agateware  kettle 
which  holds  at  least  a  gallon  and  put  in  it  about 
two  quarts  of  boiling  water.  Add  to  this  the  mix- 
ture of  starch  and  water  already  made  and  stir 
constantly  to  avoid  lumps.  This  should  be  al- 
lowed to  cook  until  the  paste  becomes  very  thick. 
This  hot  paste  must  be  spattered  at  once  onto  the 
cast  by  means  of  a  large  round  bristle  brush.  The 
plaster  must  not  be  stroked  with  the  brush,  but 
the  cast  must  be  covered  with  an  even  coat  of 
paste  about  one-half  inch  thick.  •  If  the  paste  is 
too  thin  it  will  run  off,  while  if  it  is  too  thick  it 
will  not  stick  at  all.  A  little  experimenting  will 
easily  show  what  consistency  is  desirable.  After 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       163 

about  twelve  hours,  or  at  the  latest  the  next  morn- 
ing, if  the  starch  is  put  on  in  the  afternoon,  the 
paste  must  be  carefully  pulled  off  with  the  fingers. 
In  general  the  dirt  will  be  taken  off  with  the  paste. 
Should  dirt,  however,  stick  to  the  cast  anywhere, 
it  will  be  loose  and  can  easily  be  removed  by  a 
gentle  wiping  with  a  damp  sponge  which  must  be 
washed  and  squeezed  out  in  fresh  cold  water. 
The  starch  must  not  remain  on  the  cast  longer 
than  one  day,  as  otherwise  it  becomes  too  dry,  and 
in  tearing  off  it  takes  the  plaster  too,  and  thus 
injures  the  surface.  The  same  result  occurs  if  the 
layer  of  paste  which  sticks  to  the  cast  is  too  thin. 

If  large  statues  or  groups  are  to  be  cleaned  the 
starch  must  be  prepared  in  larger  quantities  and 
the  paste  put  on  beginning  at  the  top.  The  proc- 
ess must  not  be  interrupted  until  the  whole  is 
covered.  Before  attempting  to  apply  the  starch 
paste,  the  cast  should  be  carefully  examined  to 
determine  whether  it  has  already  been  treated  in 
any  way  or  whether  the  plaster  is  still  in  the  raw 
state.  Casts  which  have  never  been  treated  or 
those  which  have  been  painted  with  water  colours 
may  easily  be  cleaned  by  the  application  of  the 
starch  paste.  Great  care  should  be  taken  that 
the  paste  is  of  the  right  consistency,  as  otherwise 
the  cast  may  receive  some  damage. 

There  is  a  way  of  treating  the  new  cast  chem- 


164  THE  MUSEUM 

ically  that  is  used  in  the  Albertinum  in  Dresden 
which  is  said  to  make  it  possible  to  wash  it  later 
when  dirty.  European  museum  directors  have 
spent  much  more  time  and  study  on  such  prob- 
lems than  our  American  museum  men  have  done. 
Experiments  are  being  made  in  Munich  with  a 
shellac  mixture.  But  this  discolors  the  cast  in  a 
disagreeable  manner.  In  this  country  some  of 
our  older  museums  are  using  white  water-color 
paint  on  the  casts  when  they  become  too  dirty 
for  exhibition  otherwise.  Such  a  proceeding 
makes  every  student  hold  up  his  hands  in  horror. 
The  spirit  of  a  work  of  art  is  such  a  delicate 
and  evanescent  thing  that  it  is  only  with  the  great- 
est difficulty  that  it  can  be  caught  and  imprisoned 
in  a  cast.  Those  who  know  and  appreciate  the 
subtleties  of  modelling  call  for  a  cast  made  from 
a  mould  taken  directly  from  the  original  and 
prefer  an  early  cast  from  that  mould  rather  than 
a  late  one,  so  easily  are  the  shades  of  surface 
destroyed.  Imagine,  then,  what  a  lifeless  thing  a 
cast  becomes  when  its  surface  is  covered  by  layer 
after  layer  of  calcimine!  It  is  for  this  reason 
also  that  the  washing  of  casts  is  attended  with 
so  much  difficulty.  The  slightest  change  in  the 
surface  of  a  cast  impairs  its  value,  and  the  prob- 
lem is  consequently  to  provide  a  method  of  filling 
the  pores  of  the  plaster  that  will  make  it  less 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       165 

subject  to  dust  while  in  no  wise  altering  its  form, 
and  to  provide  a  method  of  removing  dirt  without 
injury  to  the  surface. 

If  the  officers  of  the  museum  decide  that  they 
wish  to  exhibit  their  casts  white,  there  are  three 
methods  open  to  them.  The  first  of  these  is  the 
Albertinum  method,  which  requires  special  ap- 
paratus that  is  rather  costly  but  which  is  thorough 
and  satisfactory.  The  second  is  a  very  simple 
process  as  follows:  Take  a  one-quart  glass  pre- 
serve jar  with  a  tight-fitting  top  and  break  up  in 
it  about  two  rounds  of  white  beeswax.  (This 
may  be  obtained  by  the  pound  or  in  five-pound 
packages  from  wholesale  druggists.  It  comes  in 
thin,  round  cakes  about  five  or  six  inches  in 
diameter  and  there  are  about  seven  or  eight  cakes 
to  the  pound.)  Upon  the  wax  in  the  jar  pour 
a  quart  of  turpentine.  Set  aside  over  night.  In 
the  morning  the  wax  will  be  completely  dissolved 
in  the  turpentine.  No  HEAT  is  NECESSARY. 
Should  time  be  short,  a  workable  solution  may  be 
obtained  in  a  half  hour  by  breaking  up  a  larger 
quantity  of  the  wax  in  half  the  quanity  of  tur- 
pentine and  shaking  it  thoroughly.  Then  take  a 
soft,  small  paint  brush  and  dip  it  in  the  solution 
and  apply  to  the  cast  Should  the  marks  of  the 
brush  show  on  the  surface,  thin  the  solution  with 
turpentine  until  it  is  easy  to  handle.  Care  must 


i66  THE  MUSEUM 

be  taken  not  to  rub  the  surface  with  a  cloth  as  it 
easily  takes  on  a  decided  polish.  If  this  polish 
comes,  it  can  be  dimmed  with  clear  turpentine.  A 
cast  that  has  been  so  treated  can  be  washed  with 
cold  water  and  a  sponge  and,  in  case  the  dirt 
persists,  with  turpentine  on  clean  cotton  waste. 
After  it  has  been  washed,  however,  it  is  very  de- 
sirable that  it  should  be  treated  again  with  the 
turpentine  and  wax.  There  is  often  a  certain 
difference  in  the  quality  of  the  surface  of  the 
plaster  which  does  not  show  if  the  cast  is  left 
untreated  but  which  with  the  application  of  any 
solution  causes  spots  of  a  grayish  color  to  appear. 
There  is  no  help  for  this,  although  when  thor- 
oughly dry  the  difference  is  not  very  marked. 

The  third  process  is  the  application  of  zapon, 
with  which  the  author  has  had  no  experience. 

PATINATING. — The  coloring  of  casts  to  imitate 
the  material  of  the  original  is  a  process  which  has 
been  called  patinating.  It  is  in  use  in  the  Kaiser 
Friedrich  Museum  in  Berlin,  in  the  Trocadero 
in  Paris  and  in  many  other  of  the  fine  European 
cast  collections.  In  this  country  it  has  so  far 
been  little  used  and  museum  officials  are  still 
arguing  as  to  the  ethics  of  the  procedure.  There 
is  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  impression  made 
upon  the  public  is  much  more  pleasing  and  also 
much  more  true  if  the  casts  look  something  like 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       167 

the  originals  in  color  than  if  they  are  a  staring 
white.  The  method  adopted  must,  of  course,  be 
carefully  studied,  for  if,  in  order  to  color  the  cast, 
a  thick  white  coating  of  paint  is  put  over  it,  the 
museum  director  will  find  himself  much  criticised 
for  destroying  the  shades  of  modelling  in  the 
surface.  Admirable  results  may  be  obtained  in 
various  ways.  Perhaps  the  most  effective  of 
these  is  the  Trocadero  system  which  starts  with 
the  wax  and  turpentine  solution  to  which  a  small 
amount  of  prepared  oil  color  is  added  according 
to  the  shade  desired. 

Marble. — For  the  lighter  whiter  marbles  of 
the  XVII  and  XVIII  centuries,  the  least  suspicion 
of  van  Dyke  brown  in  the  mixture  is  sufficient. 
For  ancient  marbles  that  have  mellowed  and  yel- 
lowed with  time,  use  yellow  ochre  and  van  Dyke 
brown.  The  liquid  will  have  a  strong  yellow- 
brown  look. 

These  mixtures  should  be  applied  with  a 
medium-sized  brush,  and  a  clean,  soft  cloth  or 
piece  of  cotton  waste  should  be  at  hand  to  wipe 
off  superfluous  color.  It  should  be  remembered 
that  the  color  of  the  cast  will  be  much  less  intense 
when  it  is  on  the  pedestal  and  on  exhibition  than 
when  being  worked  over  in  the  shop.  If  too 
much  color  is  applied,  it  may  be  in  part  removed 
by  washing  with  turpentine. 


168  THE  MUSEUM 

Terra  Cotta. — Is  somewhat  more  difficult. 
The  Trocadero  uses  raw  Siena  and  red  ochre,  but 
a  little  experimenting  will  be  necessary  before  a 
wholly  satisfactory  result  can  be  obtained. 

Wood. — Yellow  ochre,  van  Dyke  brown,  raw 
Siena  and  black. 

Bronze. — A  dull  brown  or  green  bronze  can 
easily  be  obtained  by  using  a  large  proportion  of 
color  in  the  turpentine  and  wax  mixture.  Should 
the  gold  lights  be  desired,  however,  the  cast  must 
first  be  shellaced,  then  gilded,  then  shellaced 
again,  and  finally  painted  over  with  green  or 
brown  of  the  appropriate  shade.  This  method  is 
not  to  be  recommended,  because  of  the  numerous 
coats  of  paint  required. 

Basalt. — Black  and  the  least  suspicion  of  green 
mixed  with  turpentine  and  wax,  and  put  on  with 
a  small  atomizer  or  other  spraying  apparatus 
gives  an  excellent  representation  of  basalt. 

Glazed  Terra  Cotta. — The  glaze  of  the  terra 
cottas  of  the  Delia  Robbia  sculpture  may  be  ad- 
mirably imitated  by  using  the  turpentine  and  wax 
rather  thick.  This  should  stand  for  some  three 
or  four  days  and  then  be  rubbed  down  and  pol- 
ished with  soft,  clean  cloths.  A  little  zinc  white 
added  to  the  mixture  will  give  a  still  better  color. 

Stone. — A  very  satisfactory  process  is  the  fol- 
lowing: Dissolve  a  small  amount  of  sculptors' 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       169 

clay  in  water  and  add  a  little  lampblack.  Ex- 
periments  will  soon  show  the  exact  proportions 
necessary,  which  will  vary  with  the  subject.  Stir 
constantly  and  apply  as  evenly  as  possible.  In 
some  cases  it  will  be  necessary  to  stipple  the  sur- 
face. This  makes  a  thin  coating,  easily  wiped 
off,  but  as  the  dust  settles  upon  it  it  becomes  daily 
more  stony  in  appearance.  A  glue  size  with  bone- 
set  has  given  fair  results. 

The  firm  of  Gerber  and  Company  of  Cologne 
has  made  a  specialty  of  coloring  their  casts, 
and  do  it  very  well  for  the  most  part.  The  sug- 
gestion of  the  original  is  very  clear,  although  it 
may  be  questioned  whether  their  color  is  accurate 
in  all  cases.  Inaccuracy  may  be  overlooked  if  the 
coloring  is  not  very  well  done.  When  it  is,  it 
should  be  like  the  copy  of  an  oil  painting,  just 
as  close  as  a  good  artist  can  make  it. 

MOUNTING. — The  "tiering  machine,"  elsewhere 
described  (see  p.  158),  is  very  valuable  in  de- 
termining the  most  desirable  height  for  cast  as 
well  as  original  sculpture  pedestals.  For  large 
casts,  the  pedestal  should  be  about  two  or  three 
inches  wider  on  all  sides  than  the  base  of  the 
cast.  Busts,  especially  life-size  ones  with  a  small 
base  like  those  of  Caesar,  Socrates,  etc.,  should,  if 
possible,  be  shown  upon  a  small  shelf  at  a  height 
that  will  bring  the  eyes  at  about  the  level  of  the 


170  THE  MUSEUM 

eyes  of  the  average  visitor.  The  usual  pedestal 
is  apt  to  be  clumsy  if  made  large  enough  to  be 
thoroughly  steady.  Such  busts  as  those  of  the 
XVII  and  XVIII  centuries  which  show  more  of 
the  figure  must,  of  course,  be  placed  upon  a  regu- 
lar base.  In  this  case  it  is  possible  to  have  the 
width  of  the  base  somewhat  less  than  the  width 
of  the  shoulders  of  the  cast  provided  that  the 
cast  is  arranged  with  the  usual  small  round  base 
below.  (See  Marie  Antoinette,  by  Lecomte; 
Lafayette,  by  Houdon,  etc.)  When  it  comes  to 
such  casts  as  the  large  half-figure  of  St.  Anne 
from  Rheims,  which  is  more  than  life  size,  it 
must  be  raised  higher  from  the  floor,  and  in  this 
case,  unless  the  pedestal  is  kept  as  small  as  pos- 
sible, it  will  look  ill-proportioned.  The  same 
thing  that  has  been  said  about  design  of  pedestals 
elsewhere  holds  true  here.  The  lines  should  be 
as  simple  as  possible.  There  is  no  objection  to  the 
use  of  plain  pine  wood  painted,  which  is  often 
quite  as  effective  as  a  much  more  expensive  stock. 
No  lumber  that  has  not  been  well  seasoned  should 
be  used  in  pedestals.  Casters  should  be  provided 
in  all  bases  so  that  the  casts  can  be  readily  moved 
about  for  purposes  of  cleaning  or  for  instruction. 
In  the  Albertinum  in  Dresden,  casts  are  frequently 
moved  into  the  lecture  room  for  use  in  illustrat- 
ing a  course  of  talks  on  the  history  of  art. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS      171 

Bas-reliefs  may  be  fastened  to  the  wall  by  the 
use  of  angle-irons  which  can  be  obtained  from 
any  blacksmith.  The  lower  edge  of  the  relief  is 
measured  and  the  iron  bent  to  fit.  From  six  to 
ten  inches  according  to  the  weight  of  the  cast  are 
allowed  in  the  arm  which  is  to  be  fastened  to 
the  wall.  This  arm  is  drilled  with  three  or  more 
holes.  The  cast  is  held  in  place  on  the  wall  and 
the  spots  where  the  irons  are  to  go,  marked.  It 
is  then  taken  down  and  holes  are  drilled  in  the 
wall  into  which  the  expansion  bolts  or  toggle  pins 
are  put,  through  the  iron  arm.  When  these  have 
been  securely  fastened  they  may  be  painted  the 
color  of  the  wall  and -the  cast  then  placed  upon 
them.  A  hook  put  in  the  wall  at  the  top  of  the 
cast  may  be  fastened  into  the  wire  eye,  usually 
provided  in  such  objects,  to  insure  greater  security. 
It  is  sometimes  desirable  where  the  relief  is  deep 
and  heavy,  as  in  the  case  of  some  of  the  gothic 
figures,  to  provide  a  small  wooden  base  to  hide 
the  mechanism  which  holds  the  cast  in  place,  and 
to  give  a  greater  appearance  of  stability.  The 
simplest  kind  of  mouldings  are  the  most  success- 
ful, and  the  fewer  the  members  in  this  base,  the 
less  conspicuous  it  is  and  the  easier  to  keep  clean. 

LABELLING. — The  labelling  of  a  cast  collection 
is  most  important,  for  we  must  remember  that  in 
dealing  with  such  material  we  are  educating  our 


172  THE  MUSEUM 

public  and  teaching  them  not  only  to  appreciate 
beauty  but  also  where  to  look  for  beauty.  The 
first  essential  is  to  give  the  name  or  subject;  then, 
equally  important,  the  fact  that  it  is  a  PLASTER 
CAST,  and,  consequently,  where  the  original  is, 
the  artist,  his  country  and  date.  In  some  cases 
the  original  has  been  removed  from  the  place  it 
was  intended  to  occupy,  and  in  that  case  this  fact 
should  be  mentioned  as  "Original  from  Corbeil, 
France,  now  in  the  cathedral  St.  Denis,  France." 

Holders  provided  with  glass  to  protect  the 
label  are  really  essential,  as  the  labels  on  casts 
seem  to  become  defaced  much  more  rapidly  than 
those  on  other  objects.  Here,  again,  simplicity  of 
design  is  the  most  important  requisite.  A  good 
type  is  that  used  by  the  Metropolitan  Museum 
and  by  the  Minneapolis  Institute  of  Arts.  It  con- 
sists of  a  narrow  frame  with  square  edges  pro- 
vided with  a  slight  projection  on  two  sides  for 
the  screws  which  hold  it  in  place.  The  label  is 
held  firmly  within  this  and  can  only  be  removed 
by  taking  out  the  screws. 

The  color  of  holder  and  label  should  harmonize 
with  the  color  of  the  base.  The  ink  used  should 
be  black  if  the  label  is  light  in  color  ,and  white 
if  it  is  dark.  Very  dark  blue,  brown,  green  or 
purple  ink  can  sometimes  be  used  with  even  better 
effect  than  black. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS      173 

PRINTS 

The  care  and  installation  of  a  print  collection 
is  a  subject  by  itself,  requiring  an  expert  knowl- 
edge of  both  museum  and  library  methods.  An 
ordinary  print  collection  contains  too  many  "speci- 
mens" to  exhibit  all  of  them  at  once,  so  that  the 
problems  of  storage  and  cataloguing  become  of 
greater  importance  than  the  problems  of  exhi- 
bition. 

Let  us  consider  some  of  the  processes  a  print 
goes  through  on  entering  a  collection.  It  is  first 
of  all  identified  and  entered  in  the  accessions  list 
and  given  a  number.  Then  it  must  be  stamped 
on  the  back  in  some  place  where  the  paper  is  well 
covered  with  ink  (i.  e.  where  the  stamp  will  not 
show  through  on  the  right  side)  with  the  device 
of  the  museum  or  collection.  The  Kupferstich 
Kabinet  in  Berlin  uses  a  small  brass  mould  into 
which  gelatine  is  poured  to  make  a  die  or  stamp. 
The  advantage  of  this  over  a  metal  stamp  is  ob- 
vious, for  it  is  soft  enough  to  be  used  on  the 
thinnest  India  paper  without  danger  to  the  print 
Rubber  stamps  may  also  be  used,  but  a  fine  type 
can  be  made  more  legible  with  the  gelatine,  and 
as  soon  as  the  impression  begins  to  be  unsatis- 
factory the  gelatine  may  be  melted  over  and  a 
fresh  die  prepared.  Great  care  must  be  taken  in 


174  THE  MUSEUM 

the  selection  of  the  ink,  as  ordinary  inks  eat  the 
paper  of  the  print.  Windsor  and  Newton's 
sepia  oil  color  has  been  used  instead  of  ink.  It 
is  important  that  the  ink  should  contain  no  aniline 
dye  and  that  it  should  be  spread  evenly  on  a 
glass  plate  before  being  used,  to  avoid  lumps  and 
thick  spots  in  the  marking.  Space  is  usually  left 
in  this  stamp  where  the  accessions  number  can 
be  added  in  pencil.  The  custom  of  using  pencil 
for  this  purpose  seems  to  be  due  to  the  fact  that 
every  large  print  collection  expects  to  be  able  to 
sell  or  exchange  duplicates  when  it  acquires  a 
better  example  of  any  work.  This  is  not  done 
in  any  other  branch  of  art  museum  work  though 
it  is  more  or  less  customary  in  scientific  museums. 
The  pencilled  number  can  be  easily  erased  and 
should,  of  course,  be  removed  before  the  print 
leaves  the  museum's  collection. 

The  next  step  is  the  mounting.  The  Print  De- 
partment of  the  British  Museum  and  the  Kup- 
ferstich  Kabinet  in  Berlin  are  the  two  collections 
that  have  paid  the  most  attention  to  this  side  of 
the  work,  and  the  "British  Museum  board,"  a 
mounting  board  specially  prepared,  free  from  sub- 
stances harmful  to  prints,  is  the  standard  every- 
where. It  is,  however,  very  expensive  and  most  of 
the  American  collections  content  themselves  with 
using  one  of  the  mounting  boards  put  on  the  market 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS      175 

by  Chas.  T.  Bainbridge's  Sons  in  Brooklyn.  The 
author  has  never  seen  a  chemical  analysis  of  this 
board  and  cannot  vouch  for  its  freedom  from  in- 
jurious substances;  in  the  collections  where  it  has 
been  used,  however,  it  seems  as  yet  to  have  done  no 
harm.  In  mounting  prints  certain  uniform  sizes 
are  used  in  most  large  collections.  The  advan- 
tages are  obvious.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  much 
easier  and  safer  to  store  objects  of  uniform  size; 
in  addition,  they  are  more  easily  exhibited,  whether 
in  separate  frames  or  in  a  wall  or  desk  case,  and 
in  loan  exhibitions  where  prints  from  other  col- 
lections are  shown  they  are  much  more  easily 
handled  if  all  of  similar  sizes.  It  has  been  found 
convenient  to  use  the  following  three  sizes  of 
mats:  14x18,  22x28  and  28x40.  These  give 
good  proportions  and  most  prints  fit  one  of  these 
sizes.  The  usual  custom  in  mounting  prints  is 
to  hinge  together  two  pieces  of  board  with  linen 
tape  or  strips  of  linen  cloth  especially  prepared. 
An  opening  is  cut  in  the  front  board  to  show  the 
print  up  to  the  margin  of  the  plate.  The  backing 
board  must  be  fairly  thick,  so  as  not  to  bend 
easily  in  handling,  and  to  give  real  protection  to 
the  object  mounted  upon  it.  Rubbing  is  very 
harmful  to  the  surface  of  prints,  and  the  front 
board  varies  in  thickness  according  to  the  value 
and  size  of  the  print  and  the  amount  of  protec- 


176  THE  MUSEUM 

tion  it  needs.  The  opening  in  the  front  board 
should  be  slightly  above  the  centre,  as  the  eye  in 
looking  at  a  print  has  a  tendency  to  make  it  look 
lower.  This  opening  is  usually  cut  with  a  bevelled 
edge.  In  Berlin  a  special  machine  has  been  made 
for  this  and  the  process  is  easy  and  simple.  In 
our  smaller  collections  the  bevel  is  usually  cut  by 
hand,  using  a  very  sharp  knife  held  slanting. 
Great  dexterity  and  considerable  strength  are 
needed  to  make  a  good  job  of  this  hand  cutting, 
and  most  curators  of  print  departments  would 
bless  the  inventor  of  a  small  and  inexpensive 
machine  that  would  do  this  more  satisfactorily. 
In  mounting  the  print,  it  is  considered  very  bad 
museum  practice  to  cut  away  any  part  of  the 
paper  on  which  the  print  is  made.  Oftentimes, 
therefore,  a  much  larger  mount  is  needed  than 
the  size  of  the  print  really  calls  for,  in  order  to 
give  an  opportunity  for  storing  the  extra  paper 
that  the  artist  has  thought  best  to  use.  The  print 
is  placed  upon  the  mount,  and  marks  made  where 
the  upper  corners  come.  A  thin  gummed  bank- 
note paper  such  as  is  used  for  mending  torn 
music  or  books  is  generally  employed  in  mount- 
ing. This  is  easily  removed,  if  necessary,  and 
does  not  render  illegible  any  marks  that  may  be 
on  the  back  of  the  print.  The  strip  should  be 
cut  the  full  length  of  the  print,  folded  in  the 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS      177 

middle  and  gummed  to  the  print,  then  to  the 
mount.  Care  should  be  taken  not  to  use  too 
much  moisture  on  the  bank-note  paper  as  the 
paper  of  the  print  is  apt  to  pull  when  damp  and 
form  bad  wrinkles  when  dried.  With  certain  of 
the  Japanese  rice  papers  it  is  better  to  make 
several  small  hinges  instead  of  one  large  one,  be- 
cause the  paper  stretches  when  wet.  When  the 
print  has  been  mounted  it  should  be  pressed  under 
a  heavy  plate  glass  until  thoroughly  dry.  In  the 
case  of  prints  mounted  vertically,  the  hinge  of  the 
cover  mount  should  always  be  on  the  left  side. 
With  prints  mounted  horizontally,  the  hinge 
should  be  at  the  top.  The  custom  of  firmly  gluing 
down  either  the  print  or  the  mount  has  been 
given  up  since  so  much  care  and  study  have  been 
bestowed  upon  the  art  of  the  engraver.  The 
back  of  a  print  should  always  be  accessible  to 
the  student.  Where  a  print  comes  to  a  collection 
already  mounted  in  the  old-fashioned  manner  it 
may  be  carefully  soaked  in  cold  distilled  water 
by  a  competent  person.  Experts  in  the  handling 
of  old  prints  can  restore  them  in  a  remarkable 
way  by  simple  processes  of  bathing.  Brown  water 
spots,  for  example,  can  be  removed  in  this  man- 
ner, and  the  creases  made  from  improper  handling 
obliterated.  Any  of  the  large  print  collections 
are  in  the  habit  of  doing  this,  and  the  curator  of 


iy8  THE  MUSEUM 

a  new  department  who  has  no  previous  training 
in  this  work  will  always  find  himself  welcome  to 
such  advice,  help  or  encouragement  as  he  needs 
from  the  older  institutions.  Every  museum  with 
a  print  collection  should  provide  a  laboratory  for 
the  curator,  equipped  with  a  very  large  table  (say, 
4x8  feet),  sheets  of  heavy  plate  glass  of  varying 
sizes,  slightly  larger  than  the  standard  sizes  of 
his  mounts,  a  flat-bottomed  sink  (not  iron)  at 
least  3x5  feet,  with  running  water,  a  large-sized 
pasteboard  cutter,  and  some  sort  of  apparatus  for 
cutting  the  bevelled  edge  of  his  mounts. 

EXHIBITING. — In  exhibiting  prints,  small  rooms 
with  side-light  are  the  most  desirable.  Artificial 
light  should  be  avoided  wherever  possible,  but 
may  sometimes  be  used  as  a  compromise  if  the 
prints  could  not  otherwise  be  shown.  Top-light 
is  very  disagreeable  and  should  be  avoided,  as  in 
making  the  necessary  close  observation  of  the 
print  the  visitor  gets  in  his  own  light. 

Some  museums  prefer  to  show  the  prints  in 
individual  frames.  These  are  generally  uniform 
in  design,  adapted  to  the  three  standard  sizes  of 
mats,  and  fitted  with  removable  backs.  An  ex- 
hibition is  easily  changed  in  this  manner  and  looks 
very  well  when  hung.  If  the  walls  of  the  print 
room  are  of  rough  plaster,  which  is  undesirable, 
wires  become  necessary,  and  if  wires  are  used 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       179 

the  process  of  hanging  is  a  long  one.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  walls  are  of  wood,  the  prints  are 
quickly  hung,  but  also  quickly  taken  down,  which 
increases  the  danger  of  theft.  Just  how  serious 
this  danger  is,  is  a  matter  to  be  considered  by 
the  individual  museum  director.  There  are  two 
alternatives :  wall  cases  and  desk  cases.  Wall 
cases  should  be  made  shallow,  with  doors  care- 
fully planned  so  that  the  space  enclosed  by  the 
wooden  frame  of  the  glass  shall  be  adapted  to 
the  sizes  of  the  mounts.  The  frame  itself  should 
be  as  small  as  possible.  (In  the  Fogg  Art 
Museum,  Cambridge,  an  excellent  double  hinge 
is  used  which  reduces  to  a  minimum  the  space 
occupied  by  the  framework  of  the  glass  doors.) 
These  cases  must  be  neither  too  high  nor  too  low. 
They  may  occupy  such  space  on  the  walls  as  is 
required  to  show  three  rows  of  the  14x18  size 
prints.  A  storage  cabinet  for  prints  of  this  small 
size  may  be  provided  underneath,  if  desired,  but 
should  not  interfere  with  the  visitor's  ease  in  get- 
ting close  to  the  prints  in  the  case,  for  a  print 
is  made  to  be  examined  closely  and  does  not 
"carry"  as  does  a  painting.  Desk  cases  may  also 
be  arranged  in  connection  with  storage  cases,  and 
are  very  valuable  for  showing  smaller  prints,  as 
it  is  easy  for  the  visitor  to  get  quite  close  to  them. 
Thumb  tacks  or  push  pins  are  used  for  holding 


i8o  THE  MUSEUM 

the  prints  on  the  back  of  the  case,  not  by  making 
a  hole  through  the  mount  but  by  supporting  the 
mount  upon  them.  This  makes  an  ugly  number 
of  spots  at  the  corners  but  cannot  be  avoided. 
The  only  means  of  alleviating  the  difficulty  is  by 
placing  them  at  equal  distances  on  all  the  prints. 
The  same  arguments  which  have  been  brought 
forward  in  favor  of  showing  paintings  in  one 
row  only,  can  be  adduced  in  the  exhibition  of 
prints.  More  than  one  row  is  disturbing  and 
difficult  to  see,  and  in  a  properly  designed  gallery 
is  unnecessary. 

STORING. — A  print  collection  differs  from  the 
other  departments  of  a  museum  in  that  the  num- 
ber of  specimens  in  even  a  small  collection  renders 
it  impossible  to  exhibit  all  at  one  time.  The 
larger  the  collection,  therefore,  the  more  oppor- 
tunity there  must  be  for  safe  storage.  In  the 
largest  collections,  boxes  are  used  in  which  the 
prints  can  be  assembled  according  to  artists. 
There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to  whether 
prints  should  be  stored  flat  or  standing  up.  The 
object  is,  in  all  cases,  to  prevent  the  rubbing  of 
one  print  on  another,  but  some  authorities  contend 
that  while  there  is  less  pressure  if  the  prints  are 
standing  up,  there  is  more  strain  on  the  hinge 
and  therefore  more  likelihood  of  the  print  be- 
coming creased.  The  result  of  these  contentions 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS      181 

is  that  small  prints,  that  is,  the  14x18  size,  are 
usually  stored  standing  up,  while  the  larger  sizes 
are  stored  lying  flat.  In  the  expensively  appointed 
cabinets  like  Berlin,  all  the  prints  are  stored  in 
boxes  built  of  thin  wood  and  covered  with  very 
heavy  English  buckram.  They  are  arranged 
somewhat  after  the  manner  of  the  usual  transfer 
boxes,  and  are  bound  in  leather  at  the  back,  where 
the  artist's  name  and  the  catalogue  number  of 
the  box  are  indicated.  They  are  lined  with  a 
pure  white  paper  which  is  chosen  so  as  to  afford 
the  greatest  possible  protection  to  the  print.  As 
has  been  said  above,  the  boxes  usually  contain  the 
work  of  one  artist  only,  and  if  the  collection  is 
not  rich  enough  to  thus  fill  any  box,  there  are 
little  wooden  frames  which  can  be  placed  in  the 
box  to  hold  the  mounts  in  place.  These  boxes 
are  stored  on  shelves  like  books,  the  largest  ones 
lying  flat  on  racks  provided  with  rollers,  as  in  a 
library  stack.  In  Dresden  and  some  other  cabi- 
nets where  the  boxes  are  bound  in  choice  leather, 
the  shelves  on  which  they  are  stored  are  covered 
with  corduroy  to  prevent  the  rubbing  of  the  wood. 
Corduroy  is  purposely  chosen  because  the  boxes 
slip  in  and  out  so  much  more  easily  in  the  little 
grooves  formed  by  the  wale  of  the  material. 

In  collections  where  so  much  money  is  not  avail- 
able for  installation,  the  smaller  prints  are  often 


182  THE  MUSEUM 

kept  in  portfolios  made  of  heavy  wrapping  paper 
(chosen  for  its  pliability  and  resistance  to  wear 
as  well  as  tested  for  its  purity),  and  tied  up  with 
dark  tape.  These  portfolios  are  very  useful  and 
cheap,  and  serve  to  protect  the  prints  in  some 
measure  from  dust.  They  should  never  be  used 
on  open  shelves,  however,  but  only  in  dust-proof 
cabinets.  The  larger  size  prints,  for  convenience 
in  classification,  need  to  be  held  together  in  some 
fashion,  and  may  be  simply  laid  between  folds  of 
large  wrapping  paper.  These  large  prints  are 
conveniently  kept  on  trays  which  should  not  be 
too  deep;  \y2  inches  in  the  clear  is  a  good  height. 
Cases  with  trays  should  be  built  so  that  the  trays 
can  be  pulled  out  when  the  doors  are  open  at  an 
angle  of  90°.  This  is  important,  as  it  is  very 
often  desirable  to  open  two  neighboring  cases  at 
the  same  time,  and  if  the  case  is  built  so  that  the 
doors  must  be  open  at  an  angle  of  180°,  this  is 
impossible.  The  same  method  of  fitting  the  doors 
to  keep  out  dust  which  was  described  above  (see 
p.  149)  may  be  used  in  these  cases.  All  paper 
is  subject  to  attack  by  insects,  and  the  curator  of 
prints  may  at  any  time  find  that  he  has  overlooked 
a  diseased  print  which  is  spreading  trouble  among 
the  others  in  his  collection.  For  this  reason  one 
of  the  finest  collections  in  the  United  States  has 
gone  to  the  expense  of  having  its  cases  lined 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS      183 

with  red  cedar  and  the  trays  built  of  the  same 
wood.     No  finish  is  applied  for  obvious  reasons: 

1.  Any  finish  would  impair  the  exhalation  of  the 
germicidal  odor  which  is  the  attribute  of  cedar. 

2.  Every  finish  contains  matter  which  might  stain 
the  prints  under  exceptional  weather  conditions. 
In  order  to  run  no  risk  of  the  prints  becoming 
stained  by  sap  oozing  from  improperly  cured  wood, 
it  is  best  always  to  lay  down  a  paper  on  the  shelf 
before  putting  in  the  portfolios  of  prints. 

ARCHEOLOGY 

There  is  no  class  of  material  so  often  poorly 
exhibited  in  museums,  nor  so  capable  of  arousing 
enthusiasm  if  properly  shown,  as  that  which  is 
the  result  of  excavations.  The  most  serious 
mistake,  and  the  one  most  often  committed,  is  in 
placing  before  the  public  quantities  of  specimens 
of  a  similar  character.  The  wholesale  exhibition 
of  one  class  of  objects  leads  to  two  things:  a  false 
impression  on  the  part  of  the  public  as  to  the 
importance  of  that  particular  thing  in  the  daily 
life  of  the  people  of  ancient  times,  and  a  fatigue 
of  mind  and  eye  which  must  be  avoided  if  the 
public  is  to  benefit  from  the  collection.  To  the 
great  mass  of  museum  visitors  the  exact  position 
of  a  handle  on  a  cup  or  the  precise  number  of 
geometrical  figures  used  in  a  design  are  of  no 


1 84  THE  MUSEUM 

possible  interest.  It  is  of  great  interest,  however, 
to  know  that  household  utensils  in  the  days  of 
ancient  Greece  were  of  pottery  and  bronze,  in- 
stead of  china  and  tin,  and  the  museum  which  can 
reconstruct  the  life  of  remote  times  for  us  in  a 
vital  manner  is  bound  to  interest.  Such  a  recon- 
struction cannot,  of  course,  be  made  without  the 
help  of  the  student  who  spends  long  hours  poring 
over  quantities  of  material  of  a  like  nature  in  its 
comparison,  classification,  and  arrangement.  For 
his  sake,  therefore,  as  well  as  for  our  general 
public,  let  us  have  collections  of  archaeological 
material  subdivided  to  suit  the  needs  of  both  types 
of  visitors.  The  student  should  have  side-lighted 
rooms  of  a  convenient  size,  with  windows  low 
enough  to  permit  him  to  examine  objects  under 
a  strong  light.  The  rooms  should  be  provided 
with  long  tables,  running  at  right  angles  to  the 
window  wall,  upon  which  the  collection  in  use  can 
be  spread.  Around  the  room  there  should  be 
cases,  made  as  tight  as  possible,  with  glass  doors 
wherever  practical  and  with  locks.  These  rooms 
thus  serve  as  storage  space  and  also  as  work- 
shops. They  should  open  onto  a  corridor,  but 
should  not  be  intercommunicating  as  it  is  some- 
times convenient  to  give  a  student  the  key  to  one 
room  when  you  may  not  wish  him  to  enter  the 
other  rooms. 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS      185 

Most  objects  which  come  into  an  archaeological 
collection,  especially  if  they  come  directly  from 
the  field  of  excavation,  are  in  need  of  treatment  of 
some  kind  before  they  are  ready  for  exhibition. 
Bronzes  from  Egypt  are  almost  all  subject  to  the 
patina  containing  chlorine  salts  that  is  so  harmful, 
and  some  process  of  reduction  or  impregnation 
needs  to  be  used  before  it  is  safe  to  put  them 
with  other  objects.  Coins  are  frequently  in  very 
bad  condition  and  need  to  be  reduced  by  an 
electrolytic  process  to  bring  out  inscriptions,  etc. 
All  objects  of  terra  cotta  and  limestone  are  at- 
tacked by  salt  crystals,  and  need  prolonged  treat- 
ment before  the  curator  can  be  sure  that  they 
will  remain  secure.  The  scope  of  this  little  book 
is  too  limited  to  enter  into  details  in  regard  to 
these  processes.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  they  have 
been  worked  out  scientifically  and  thoroughly  by 
Professor  Rathgen,  the  official  chemist  of  the 
Berlin  Museums,  who  has  published  a  little  hand- 
book for  curators  called  uThe  Preservation  of 
Antiquities,"  to  which  reference  has  been  made 
before.  While  there  have  been  continued  experi- 
ments since  that  date,  and  some  processes  have 
been  modified  by  further  experience  (see  Mu- 
seumskunde,  vol.  IV,  pp.  12,  88;  VI,  23;  VII, 
218;  IX,  44;  XI,  32  and  Rhousopoulos,  Mu- 
seumskunde,  vol.  VII,  95,  translated  in  Museums 


1 86  THE  MUSEUM 

Journal,  XI,  131),  no  museum  which  possesses 
archaeological  material  should  be  without  a  copy, 
as  a  clearer  understanding  by  the  museum  staff 
of  the  chemical  action  of  the  salts  to  which  all 
antiquities  have  been  exposed  would  often  prevent 
disintegration  of  important  specimens. 

SAFETY  DEVICES 

Electricity  is  a  great  help  in  safeguarding 
museum  collections.  In  every  large  city  in  the 
United  States  there  is  a  company  which  makes  it 
a  business  to  assist  in  watching  property  at  night. 
This  is  done  by  means  of  telegraphic  communica- 
tion. Wires  run  from  a  centrally  located  office 
of  this  company  to  each  building  that  it  is  em- 
ployed to  watch,  pass  through  the  walls  of  the 
building  to  boxes  so  located  that  the  night  watch- 
man, in  order  to  get  to  them,  must  pass  through 
every  room.  At  stated  intervals  the  watchman 
makes  his  rounds  and  puts  his  key  into  each  box 
as  he  comes  to  it.  This  registers  at  the  central 
office,  and  if  a  certain  number  of  minutes  go  by 
without  the  reports,  the  company  sends  men  to 
investigate  the  cause  of  the  delay.  In  the  morn- 
ing, reports  are  mailed  giving  the  exact  time  at 
which  the  watchman  rang  in  each  box.  Special 
safeguards  for  the  watchman  may  be  arranged  by 
having  one  box  that  is  not  rung  in  regularly.  If 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  OBJECTS       187 

he  is  overpowered  by  a  thief  who  takes  the  key 
and  makes  the  rounds,  the  central  office  will  be 
advised  of  the  fact  by  having  a  signal  from  the 
box  that  is  not  generally  rung.  These  same 
boxes  can  be  used  for  fire  alarms.  Where  this 
service  is  not  available,  there  are  other  means  of 
controlling  the  watchman's  round.  All  of  these 
depend  upon  a  box  containing  a  clock  and  mechan- 
ism for  registering  the  time  at  which  a  key  is 
inserted  in  them.  Sometimes  there  are  different 
keys  in  the  various  rooms  and  the  watchman  car- 
ries the  clock.  In  other  cases  the  clock  is  in  the 
room  and  the  watchman  carries  the  key. 

In  Europe,  police  dogs  often  accompany  the 
watchman  and  are  a  great  protection  to  him  as 
well  as  good  company  and  faithful  servants.  See 
Museums  Journal,  vol.  VII,  411,  Canine  Cus- 
todians. 

For  the  safeguarding  of  works  of  art  either 
by  day  or  night,  a  system  of  electric  contact  has 
been  installed  in  many  European  museums  which 
is  efficient  and  absolutely  invisible  if  desired.  It 
consists  in  a  little  spring  similar  to  that  in  the 
ordinary  push  button  which  rests  against  the  ob- 
ject to  be  protected.  The  releasing  of  pressure 
immediately  rings  a  bell  which  calls  an  attendant. 
The  wires  for  these  attachments  are  usually  hid- 
den, but  where  visible  can  be  so  arranged  that  the 


i88  THE  MUSEUM 

act  of  cutting  the  wires  gives  the  alarm.  Locks 
and  bolts  are  not  as  efficient  as  such  a  device, 
which  may  be  attached  to  windows,  or  doors  of 
cases,  or  in  any  place  where  a  thief  might  be 
expected  to  work.  The  system  must  be  examined 
frequently  and  tested  occasionally,  and  should  not 
be  allowed  to  influence  in  any  way  the  vigilance 
of  the  guards  and  watchmen. 

Plate  glass  can  be  cut  on  one  side  only,  and 
should  therefore  be  set  in  windows  and  cases  so 
that  the  side  which  can  be  cut  is  on  the  inside. 

For  fire  protection  a  large  hose  on  each  floor 
and  a  four-inch  water  pipe  are  of  some  assistance 
while  in  certain  of  the  workshops  a  sprinkler  sys- 
tem should  be  installed.  Chemical  fire  extin- 
guishers in  the  hands  of  ignorant  or  excited  per- 
sons may  prove  very  dangerous  to  works  of  art 
and  should  not  be  provided  in  a  museum  unless 
the  guards  and  janitors  are  instructed  how  and 
when  to  use  them. 


CHAPTER  VI 

OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS 

HOURS   OF   OPENING 

IT  is  the  custom  in  this  country  for  art  museums 
to  be  open  on  week  days  from  10-5  and 
on  Sundays  from  1-5,  while  certain  of  our 
richer  institutions  provide  for  an  occasional  or 
regular  evening  opening  continuing  from  5-10 
P.  M.,  or  in  special  instances  from  8-10.  The 
reasons  for  this  choice  of  hours  are  that  few 
visitors  arrive  before  10.30  or  n  and  the  cus- 
todians come  at  8,  which  gives  about  two  hours 
for  the  necessary  janitor  service  before  they  have 
to  go  on  duty.  At  5  o'clock  the  light  begins  to 
fail  at  most  seasons  of  the  year.  Sunday  morn- 
ing brings  few  visitors.  A  museum  of  any  size 
finds  it  impossible  to  get  enough  janitors'  work 
done  before  ten  to  keep  the  building  clean.  It  is 
therefore  customary  to  close  for  a  half-day  during 
the  week.  Monday  morning  seems  to  be  the 
time  when  the  museum  is  least  frequented,  and  is 

189 


190  THE  MUSEUM 

a  very  convenient  day  to  choose  because  after 
the  Sunday  crowds  there  is  much  to  be  done.  It 
is  a  great  convenience  for  the  staff  to  have  a 
half-day  free  from  visitors,  as  in  changing  ex- 
hibitions or  rearranging  cases  the  short  time  be- 
fore the  opening  of  the  museum  is  often  not 
enough  to  permit  of  completing  any  large  task. 
It  is  to  be  expected  that  there  will  always  be 
people  who  will  be  "unable  to  come  at  any  other 
time"  and  that  very  often,  possibly  every  Mon- 
day, a  small  group  of  visitors  will  have  to  be 
conducted  through  the  building  by  a  member  of  the 
staff. 

The  question  of  an  evening  opening  is  a  mooted 
one.  In  every  city  there  will  be  one  or  more 
zealots  who  will  write  letters  to  the  newspapers 
and  to  the  trustees  stating  that  a  museum  should 
not  be  an  institution  for  the  idle  rich  only,  but 
there  should  be  a  chance  as  well  for  the  working 
man  with  his  family  to  visit  and  enjoy  the  collec- 
tions. To  your  answer  of  Sunday  afternoon  he 
will  reply:  "The  working  man  should  have  his 
Sunday  out  of  doors.  He  does  not  want  to  be 
hived  up  in  a  building  in  the  daytime."  If  you 
yield  to  his  entreaty  and  take  pity  on  the  working 
man,  you  will  probably  find  that  your  expensive 
evening  opening,  when  you  pay  your  men  double 
for  overtime  and  have  your  lighting  to  arrange 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  191 

for,  has  been  brought  about  for  a  group  of  fifteen 
to  twenty  of  your  regular  constituents!  The 
habit  of  visiting  an  art  museum  in  the  evening 
has  not  been  formed,  and  the  moving  picture 
show,  where  a  man  can  sit  at  ease  in  his  arm- 
chair and  be  amused,  is  much  more  attractive 
than  the  art  museum.  A  far  better  method  is  to 
arrange  for  evening  openings  on  special  occa- 
sions such  as,  for  instance,  a  visit  from  the  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  or  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  or  for  some  big  group  of 
business  men  and  women  such  as  belong  to  the 
commercial  clubs  or  similar  organizations.  In 
other  words,  let  the  museum  make  use  of  the 
clubs  and  gain  the  friendship  of  the  community 
through  its  catholic  hospitality. 

There  has  been  a  very  serious  discussion  of  the 
effect  of  light  upon  collections  and,  while  the  art 
museum  is,  in  this  respect,  less  subject  to  harm 
than  the  scientific  museum,  there  are  yet  certain 
groups  of  material  that  do  suffer  from  continual 
exposure,  and  these  should  be  protected  by  dark 
curtains  or  some  other  device,  and  never  subjected 
to  direct  sunlight.  In  these  classes  are  minia- 
tures, water  colors,  textiles,  embroideries,  colored 
prints  and  Oriental  paintings.  For  the  sake  of 
these  departments,  which  are,  after  all,  not  the 
most  important  in  any  museum,  it  does  not  seem 
necessary  to  restrict  the  opening  of  the  institu- 


i92  THE  MUSEUM 

tion  to  the  public,  as  is  advocated  by  certain 
scientific  museum  directors  (see  Dr.  A.  B.  Meyer, 
"Bericht,"  containing  a  description  of  metal  cur- 
tains at  the  windows  of  the  Dresden  Museum 
and  an  important  discussion  of  the  effect  of  light 
on  collections.  This  is  continued  by  Dr.  Bather 
in  Museums  Journal,  vol.  II,  p.  320). 

Less  frequent  openings  are  sometimes  necessary 
in  a  small  museum  greatly  hampered  with  lack 
of  funds,  but  the  fewer  the  days  of  opening,  the 
more  expensive  each  one  becomes  because  the 
cost  of  "accommodation"  service  is  much  greater 
than  hiring  by  the  week  or  month. 

ADMISSION   FEES 

A  valuable  document  has  been  published  on  this 
subject  by  Henry  Lapauze,  "Le  Droit  d'Entree 
dans  les  Musees,"  S.  F.  d'Im.  et  de  Librairie, 
15  rue  de  Cluny,  Paris,  1902.  For  many  reasons 
here  in  America  it  is  deemed  wise  to  charge  ad- 
mission on  certain  days  in  the  week.  The  number 
of  free  days  depends  on  the  generosity  of  the 
museum.  Two  are  pretty  generally  given,  Satur- 
day and  Sunday,  while  certain  museums  add 
Wednesday,  and  others  even  more.  There  are 
numerous  advantages  in  having  pay  days.  Our 
American  museums  depend  largely  for  their  main- 
tenance on  the  support  of  their  membership, 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  193 

and  in  order  to  induce  a  man  to  spend  good 
money  to  join  the  museum  you  must  show  him 
that  he  is  going  to  get  something  out  of  it.  It  is 
therefore  customary  to  grant  certain  privileges 
to  members.  These  include  the  right  to  free  ad- 
mission on  pay  days  for  himself  and  his  family 
and  house  guests,  free  admission  to  lectures  given 
by  the  museum,  the  receipt  of  the  museum  publica- 
tion, and  invitations  to  receptions  given  on  the 
occasion  of  the  opening  of  exhibitions  or  other 
events  of  a  similar  character.  And  just  here  let 
it  be  said  in  passing  that  to  make  the  museum  a 
social  centre  for  all  classes  of  the  population  of 
a  city  is  a  necessity  if  the  largest  function  of  the 
institution  is  to  be  fulfilled.  Exclusive  affairs  to 
attract  the  moneyed  classes,  on  whom  the  museum 
must  depend  for  support,  and  democratic  affairs 
to  which  the  social  settlement  groups  are  invited, 
must  be  arranged  by  the  up-to-date  director. 

Another  reason  for  charging  admission  is  to  be 
found  in  the  desirability  of  having  certain  days 
upon  which  classes  can  be  held  in  the  galleries 
or  copyists  given  permission  to  work  without  too 
greatly  interfering  with  the  circulation  of  the  pub- 
lic or  in  turn  being  disturbed  by  too  many  visitors. 

The  amount  of  the  fee  to  be  charged  must 
always  depend  upon  local  conditions.  Twenty-five 
cents  is  the  usual  sum  chosen  in  America,  on  the 


194  THE  MUSEUM 

principle  that  a  person  would  think  twice  before 
spending  fifty  cents  but  that  twenty-five  is  not  too 
much.  In  this  day  of  ten-cent  moving  picture 
shows  it  is  an  open  question  whether  an  admission 
charge  of  ten  cents  might  not  bring  a  larger 
attendance.  In  this  connection  it  will  be  remem- 
bered that  at  the  Deutsches  Museum  in  Munich 
every  visitor  pays  five  cents  on  the  principle  that 
any  one  who  wishes,  can  pay  that  much,  and  that 
the  interest  of  the  man  on  the  street  is  much 
greater  if  he  has  to  pay  for  what  he  sees.  This 
contention  seems  to  be  justified  by  the  number  of 
visitors  who  go  there  and  who  pay  their  five 
cents  admission.  On  the  other  hand,  many  of 
the  people  a  museum  most  wishes  to  reach  have 
large  families  and  the  payment  of  even  five  cents 
each  for  a  group  of  six  or  eight  is  a  consideration. 
There  is  no  way  in  which  the  museum  can  gain 
frjends  so  cheaply  and  so  legitimately  as  through 
a  generous  system  of  issuing  free  admission  tickets. 
Artists  and  workers  in  decorators'  shops,  all 
those  whose  work  should  require  their  frequent  at- 
tendance at  the  museum  and  whose  funds  might 
limit  these  visits  should  be  provided  with  free 
tickets.  Teachers  accompanied  by  their  pupils 
are  almost  without  exception  admitted  free.  The 
Museum  of  Fine  Arts  in  Boston  is  very  generous 
in  this  respect,  admitting  free,  students  of  the 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  195 

various  colleges  in  the  neighborhood  who  come 
with  proper  credentials.  The  friendly  feeling 
thus  created  is  invaluable  and  more  than  offsets 
the  few  dollars  that  might  be  taken  in  from  these 
same  people  if  they  were  required  to  pay.  The 
receipts  for  admission  fees  amount  at  best  to  a 
very  small  sum,  and  it  is  therefore  unjustifiable 
to  consider  them  in  comparison  to  the  good  which 
may  be  done  by  a  generous  policy  in  regard  to 
free  tickets. 

MUSEUM  STAFF 

The  suggestions  here  offered  in  regard  to  staff 
are  worked  out  with  the  problem  of  the  medium- 
sized  museum  in  mind.  No  scheme  can  be  formu- 
lated that  can  be  rigidly  adhered  to  in  all  cases. 
Personality  counts  largely  in  museum  work  and 
the  good  administrator  may  find  himself  called 
upon  to  entirely  reorganize  his  staff  for  the  sake 
of  giving  to  some  one  peculiarly  brilliant  indi- 
vidual in  his  employ  the  work  he  or  she  is  best 
fitted  to  do.  There  is  no  attempt  here  to  con- 
sider the  problems  that  arise  with  a  complicated 
staff  of  scientific  experts.  A  spirit  of  co-operation 
between  all  the  workers  is  the  essential  always 
and  matters  more  than  the  exact  division  of 
duties. 

In  the   following  discussion  the  distinction  is 


i96  THE  MUSEUM 

made  between  the  administrative  staff  headed  by 
the  director  and  composed  of  all  those  who  are 
directly  responsible  to  him,  whether  holding  posi- 
tions of  authority  or  humble  clerkships,  and  the 
executive  staff  headed  by  the  superintendent  of 
buildings,  which  includes  all  other  employees. 

Let  us  consider  the  character  of  service  ren- 
dered in  an  art  museum.  A  specialized  knowledge 
along  many  lines  which  cannot  be  gained  any- 
where but  in  a  museum  is  a  necessity.  (See  The 
Man  as  Museum  Curator,  Museums  Journal,  vol. 
I,  p.  185;  W.  E.  Hoyle,  Education  of  a  Curator, 
Museums  Journal,  vol.  VI,  p  4;  Ernst  Berger, 
Die  Aufgaben  des  Conservators  in  Unseren  Mu- 
seen,  Museumskunde,  vol.  VI,  p.  236;  W.  Bode, 
Beruf  und  Ausbildung  des  Museumsbeamten,  Die 
Woche,  1 8,  5,  1912.)  Continued  service  means 
increased  efficiency.  The  director  must  train  every 
new  person  coming  into  his  employ.  Too  often, 
alas,  our  boards  of  trustees  are  not  sufficiently  in 
touch  with  the  work  of  the  museum  to  understand 
the  character  of  the  demands  made  upon  the  staff 
and  to  appreciate  the  fact  that  they  are  authorizing 
the  payment  of  salaries  so  small  that  mo  permanent 
efficient  help  can  be  obtained.  Whereas  nearly 
every  business  man  insists  upon  a  high  grade  of 
efficiency  in  his  heads  of  departments  and  expects 
to  pay  salaries  in  proportion  to  the  training,  ex- 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  197 

perience  and  brains  that  he  is  hiring,  the  museum 
trustee,  not  understanding  the  exactions  of  the 
position,  will  offer  his  director  a  salary  that  he 
would  not  consider  giving  a  man  of  similar  ability 
in  his  private  employ.  This  is  accepted  because 
the  director  has  some  private  means  or  is  so  de- 
voted to  his  work  that  he  considers  only  the  big 
possibilities  for  service  in  the  new  position.  Next, 
not  understanding  the  necessity  for  accurate  work 
and  specialized  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the 
director's  stenographer,  the  sum  of  $40  to  $60 
per  month  is  set  aside  to  pay  this  salary.  The 
director  finds  himself  required  to  teach  his  as- 
sistant many  things,  such  as  style,  set  up,  accuracy 
in  the  use  of  accents  in  quoting  from  foreign 
languages,  and  where  to  get  information  in  regard 
to  museum  needs,  and  often  has  to  put  up  with 
inferior  shorthand  and  typewriting  ability  which 
is  a  handicap  to  him  in  his  work.  There  is  no 
one  little  thing  that  creates  more  enemies  than  a 
delay  in  replying  to  letters,  and  few  laymen  realize 
the  quantities  of  mail  that  come  every  day  to  a 
museum.  There  are  innumerable  objects  offered 
for  sale  which  must  in  most  cases  be  carefully 
investigated  for  fear  there  may  be  something  of 
value  lost  to  the  museum  by  a  too  hasty  refusal 
on  the  part  of  the  director.  Then  there  are  many 
letters  from  artists  who  desire  to  arrange  for  ex- 


i98  THE  MUSEUM 

hibitions,  there  is  a  small  number  of  applications 
from  persons  seeking  employment,  and  there  is  an 
enormous  amount  of  detail  in  arranging  for  any 
exhibition  of  the  work  of  a  group  of  artists 
which  requires  much  correspondence  with  the 
painter,  the  owner  of  the  picture,  the  insurance 
agent,  etc.  If  there  is  a  school  connected  with 
the  museum,  the  requests  for  catalogues  and  ad- 
vice are  without  end.  But  by  far  the  most  difficult 
to  answer  and  the  most  important  part  of  the 
museum  correspondence  comes  from  the  groups 
of  individuals  or  clubs  which  are  seeking  for  help 
in  an  effort  to  attain  culture  through  the  study  of 
art.  To  know  just  how  to  treat  a  tender  young 
plant  of  this  kind,  to  nourish  it  and  strengthen 
it  and  train  it  into  useful  paths  is  one  of  the  most 
important  duties  of  a  museum  director.  The 
slightest  interest  in  any  field  of  art  if  properly 
fostered  may  bear  wonderful  results. 

The  staff  of  a  small  museum  must  necessarily 
vary  with  the  needs  of  the  collection,  but  as  long 
as  there  is  an  increasing  collection,  there  should 
be  some  one  besides  the  director  with  a  technical 
knowledge  of  museum  subjects.  There  should  be 
more  than  one  mind  represented  in  the  pages  of 
the  museum  bulletin,  and  there  should  be  more 
than  one  personality  to  attract  people.  It  is  very 
advisable  that  the  director  should  have  an  able 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  199 

assistant  who  could  take  his  place  either  in  the 
museum  or  out  of  it  when  he  is  away.  It  is  fre- 
quently necessary  for  him  to  take  trips  to  New 
York  or  Europe,  and  there  should  be  some  re- 
sponsible person  to  take  his  place.  There  should 
be  no  jealousy  between  these  two  people,  for  their 
fields  are  perfectly  harmonious  and  in  no  way 
interfere.  It  is  impossible  for  any  one  person  to 
make  as  many  friends  for  the  museum  as  any 
two  people  can  make.  There  should  always  be 
a  second  in  command  to  relieve  the  burdens  of 
the  director  and  leave  him  free  for  the  important 
task  of  spreading  the  influence  of  the  museum,  of 
arranging  for  purchases  and  loans,  and  for  scien- 
tific work  in  connection  with  museum  publications, 
including  catalogues,  which  require  his  constant 
attention. 

Another  important  matter  is  to  provide  the 
director  with  expert  assistance  in  financial  affairs. 
A  trained  accountant  is  of  inestimable  help.  If 
he  is  a  man  of  intelligence  he  may  be  purchasing 
agent  as  well  as  bursar  and  attend  to  securing 
bids  on  stenographer's  and  janitor's  supplies  and 
cases,  with  the  proviso,  of  course,  that  the  final 
decision  in  regard  to  expenditure  rests  with  the 
director  and  executive  committee.  In  addition  to 
these  duties  he  will  receive  all  bills,  check  up  the 
items,  find  out  if  goods  have  been  received  in 


200  THE  MUSEUM 

good  condition,  figure  out  the  fund  from  whicH 
they  will  be  paid  and  make  out  the  necessary 
vouchers  for  the  signatures  of  the  director  and 
finance  committee.  Another  important  part  of 
his  work  will  be  the  making  out  of  the  pay  roll 
and  attending  to  such  formalities  as  may  be  nec- 
essary in  the  administering  of  the  various  funds. 
All  these  things  are  important  and  if  properly 
attended  to  will  keep  one  man  exceedingly  busy 
in  any  wide-awake  institution.  The  placing  and 
covering  of  insurance  is  another  matter  that  may 
properly  be  left  to  such  a  man. 

Matters  pertaining  to  the  membership  of  the 
museum  and  to  the  issuing  of  the  bulletin,  arrang- 
ing for  lectures,  accessioning  and  cataloguing 
works  of  art,  etc.,  are  other  large  items  in  the 
list  of  the  duties  of  the  director.  A  museum  in 
the  ordinary  small  town  with  a  population  of 
about  200,000  should  have  a  membership  of  at 
least  2,000  persons.  In  order  to  attain  this,  one 
person  should  devote  her  entire  time  to  this  alone. 
There  is  no  reason  why  this  person  should  not 
be  a  woman,  and  the  salary  she  is  paid  would 
easily  be  made  up  by  the  new  memberships  she 
should  bring  in.  It  should  be  arranged  for  her 
to  spend  some  part  of  every  day  in  visiting  people 
to  tell  them  of  the  work  of  the  museum,  some 
part  of  each  day  in  studying  the  collections,  and 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  201 

some  part  in  working  on  the  lists,  correcting  mail- 
ing list,  entering  payments,  making  out  member- 
ship cards,  etc. 

A  system  of  telephones  in  all  parts  of  the  build- 
ing is  an  absolute  necessity  and,  of  course,  requires 
a  switchboard  with  an  attendant.  This  operator, 
however,  except  in  the  case  of  a  large  museum 
like  those  of  Boston  and  New  York,  will  have 
time  to  attend  to  other  matters  as  well.  It  is 
sometimes  thought  desirable  to  combine  the  duties 
of  cloak-room  boy  and  telephone  operator  but 
this  is  not  advisable,  for  the  switchboard  must  be 
carefully  tended  and  is  sure  to  make  demands  just 
at  the  moment  when  the  largest  number  of  people 
appear  to  offer  garments  to  be  checked.  It  is 
much  better  to  combine  the  duties  of  operator 
with  some  clerical  work  of  a  more  or  less  routine 
character.  Exactly  what,  is  a  problem  that  con- 
fronts each  museum  separately.  In  Chicago, 
New  York  and  Boston,  well-established  museums 
with  a  long  list  of  publications,  the  sale  of  cata- 
logues and  postcards  amounts  to  such  a  big 
business  that  there  are  special  employees  to  take 
care  of  it.  In  Chicago  and  New  York  these  at- 
tendants also  serve  as  information  clerks  and 
ticket  sellers.  In  one  museum  the  offices  of  ticket 
seller,  information  clerk,  catalogue  and  postcard 
seller  and  telephone  operator  were  all  combined 


202  THE  MUSEUM 

in  one  person  who  at  times  needed  an  assistant 
and  at  other  times,  notably  on  pay  days,  was 
greatly  in  need  of  occupation  and  able  to  take 
care  of  the  cuts  and  do  other  clerical  work  of  a 
similar  character.  In  a  museum  of  moderate  size 
it  should  be  possible  to  combine  the  office  of  cloak- 
room boy  and  information  clerk  and  ticket,  cata- 
logue and  postcard  seller  to  advantage,  with  the 
possibility  that  on  certain  occasions  it  might  be 
necessary  to  give  some  assistance  while  on  other 
days  the  boy  in  charge  would  be  perfectly  capable 
of  running  the  addressograph  machine,  stamping 
and  sealing  envelopes,  or  helping  in  other  ways 
in  addition  to  his  regular  duties.  In  this  event, 
the  care  of  the  telephone  would  be  in  the  hands 
of  a  clerk  who  would  be  occupied  in  copying 
articles  or  reports  or  other  work  which  did  not 
require  her  absence  from  the  telephone  desk. 

The  question  arises  whether  the  cloak  room 
should  be  free  or  not.  It  is  very  difficult  to  control 
any  dishonesty  in  this  department.  We  have  all 
been  annoyed  by  being  told  in  museums  that  the 
cloak-room  charge  was  "whatever  you  please." 
Most  museums  pay  a  very  low  salary,  $8-$io 
per  week  for  this  position,  and  there  is  absolutely 
no  chance  for  advancement.  The  consequence 
is,  that  only  a  very  young  or  very  stupid  boy 
who  is  willing  to  undertake  something  temporary, 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  203 

or  an  old  man  too  feeble  to  hold  a  better  position 
can  be  had.  It  is  conceivable  that  were  the  boy 
taken  on  young  enough  and  given  to  understand 
that  he  might  have  some  hope  of  advancement 
in  salary  and  in  work  there  might  be  a  better 
chance  of  getting  permanent  help,  sufficiently  in- 
terested in  the  welfare  of  the  institution  to  be 
honest  and  reliable.  A  certain  European  museum 
director  once  said  in  regard  to  cloak  rooms  that 
to  his  way  of  thinking  there  should  be  no  charge 
for  obligatory  checking,  but  on  the  other  hand 
there  most  assuredly  should  be  a  charge  for 
voluntary  checking.  That  is,  umbrellas,  packages 
and  the  like  which  the  rules  of  the  museum  do 
not  permit  to  be  carried,  should  be  checked  free, 
but  for  the  checking  of  overcoats,  hats,  furs,  etc., 
which  the  visitor  may  carry  in  if  he  wishes,  there 
should  be  a  small  and  definite  charge.  Such  a 
system  with  a  placard  clearly  printed  stating  these 
conditions  would  obviate  any  difficulties  arising 
from  an  attempt  to  get  a  small  fee  on  the  part 
of  the  attendant. 

We  have,  then,  our  Director,  Assistant  Director, 
Bursar,  Membership  Clerk,  Stenographer,  Cloak- 
room boy  and  Catalogue  seller.  In  addition  we 
need  some  one  to  attend  to  the  telephone  and  a 
librarian.  In  any  museum  there  are  hectic  weeks 
when  every  member  of  the  staff  rushes  madly 


204  THE  MUSEUM 

from  early  morning  till  late  at  night,  to  do  all  that 
needs  to  be  done.  Such  periods  are  usually  fol- 
lowed by  occasions  of  less  strain.  The  staff,  how- 
ever, must  be  such  that  in  times  of  emergency 
the  work  can  be  handled  and  in  dull  times  there 
will  be  enough  to  keep  all  busy.  The  careful 
administrator  will  provide  for  the  medium  times 
an  adequate  force  and  will  study  the  individuals 
in  his  employ  so  that  he  knows  to  whom  to  turn 
for  extra  help  when  he  needs  it,  and  also  will 
keep  on  hand  a  large  number  of  routine  things 
that  uwe  will  do  when  we  have  time"  to  pass 
out  to  his  assistants  when  dull  times  come.  For 
these  reasons  it  is  very  desirable  that  the  telephone 
operator  should  understand  stenography  as  well 
as  typewriting  because  in  times  of  stress,  when  the 
regular  stenographer  has  all  she  can  attend  to, 
by  going  to  the  switchboard  and  sitting  down  be- 
side the  operator,  the  director  can  dictate  letters 
or  articles  which  can  be  written  out  in  the  intervals 
between  calls. 

As  for  the  librarian,  the  need  depends,  of 
course,  upon  the  size  of  the  library  and  the  num- 
ber of  visitors.  There  is  little  other  work  that 
can  be  accomplished  by  a  librarian  because  of  the 
necessity  for  silence.  Cataloguing  books,  slides, 
photographs,  cuts  and  possibly  assisting  the 
director  in  research  work  is  about  all  that  can 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  205 

be  expected  of  her.  It  is  therefore  incumbent 
upon  the  director  to  advertise  the  library  suffi- 
ciently to  keep  his  librarian  fully  occupied  in  her 
own  department.  It  is  obvious  that  she  can  be  of 
little  use  elsewhere,  because  during  the  hours  the 
museum  is  open,  the  library  is  also  open,  and  can- 
not be  left.  The  painting  of  the  little  accession 
numbers  on  the  objects  acquired  by  the  museum 
can  be  done  by  her,  and  she  can  legitimately  be 
expected  to  care  for  any  print  collection  the  small 
museum  may  have.  In  fact,  this  latter  office  of 
Curator  of  Prints  may  very  well  be  combined 
with  that  of  librarian  as  the  knowledge  required 
in  both  is  similar. 

The  officers  so  far  under  discussion  belong  to 
the  administrative  staff  and  are  therefore  under 
the  supervision  of  the  director,  with  the  exception 
possibly  of  the  cloak-room  boy,  although  his 
duties  of  catalogue  and  ticket  seller  and  any  seal- 
ing or  stamping  of  envelopes  he  may  do  bring  him 
under  this  class.  And  here  a  very  important 
point  is  to  be  considered  and  that  is,  that  in  any 
organization,  to  be  efficient  each  individual  must 
know  to  whom  he  or  she  is  to  be  responsible. 
The  more  unintelligent  and  the  less  educated  the 
employee,  the  more  necessary  it  is  that  he  should 
know  that  there  is  only  one  person  from  whom 
he  is  to  take  orders.  Confusion  in  this  matter 


206  THE  MUSEUM 

is  often  most  upsetting,  and  yet  it  is  well  nigh 
impossible  to  remember  at  all  times  not  to  give 
any  orders  directly,  no  matter  how  much  easier  it 
would  be.  Thus,  if  the  cloak-room  boy  is  con- 
sidered a  member  of  the  executive  staff  any  work 
that  he  may  be  required  to  do  for  the  clerical  part 
of  the  administrative  staff  must  be  given  him 
through  the  head  of  the  executive  staff.  As,  how- 
ever, most  of  his  duties  fall  under  the  head  of 
administrative  staff  work  it  is  simpler  to  consider 
him  in  this  class. 

One  other  member  of  the  staff  stands  in  a  doubt- 
ful position,  and  that  is  the  "gallery  man,"  as  he 
is  called  in  some  museums,  the  man  who  attends 
to  all  the  packing,  unpacking,  hanging  of  pictures 
and  small  repairs  to  frames,  cases,  etc.  He  is, 
of  course,  a  high-grade  and  skilled  mechanic  and 
for  that  reason  might  be  expected  to  stand  in  the 
same  class  as  the  engineer  and  under  the  orders 
of  the  head  of  the  executive  staff,  yet  his  work 
is  entirely  under  the  director  and  it  is  thus  much 
simpler  to  have  him  classed  under  the  adminis- 
trative department.  For  this  position  there  are 
many  types  of  applicants.  A  salary  of  $100  a 
month  is  not  too  much  to  pay  for  the  right  man 
as  he  must  have  a  thorough  knowledge  of  car- 
pentry, a  considerable  mechanical  skill  and  in- 
ventiveness so  that  he  can  meet  difficult  problems 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  207 

of  hanging  or  exhibiting  objects,  and  he  must  be 
skilled  in  the  packing  of  all  classes  of  art  objects. 
A  packer  with  a  department  store  training  is  of 
no  use  whatever.  A  man  who  has  had  some  years 
of  experience  with  one  of  the  big  art  dealers, 
who  has  turned  his  hand  to  anything  from  cra- 
dling an  old  master  or  cleaning  a  priceless  marble 
to  tinting  frames  and  faking  furniture  and  who 
has  been  in  the  habit  of  handling  valuable  works 
of  art  for  some  years,  is  the  most  helpful  kind 
of  person  for  this  position.  Very  often  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  workings  of  a  big  shop  is  useful  in 
a  museum  and  a  man  who  has  served  successfully 
under  these  conditions  is  adaptable  and  soon  picks 
up  the  museum  point  of  view.  If  the  museum 
has  many  loan  exhibitions  each  year,  this  man  will 
be  unable  to  undertake  any  large  jobs  besides;  if 
not,  he  may  be  able  to  turn  his  hand  to  making 
cases  or  other  work  of  a  similar  nature  which  will 
suggest  itself  to  the  director.  He  is  certainly 
worth  his  salary  if  he  is  good  at  all. 

Turning  now  to  the  executive  staff.  The  direc- 
tor should  not  need  to  bother  with  details  such 
as  who  is  to  mop  the  floors  or  do  the  ordinary 
dusting  around  a  museum.  For  this  he  has  a 
superintendent  of  buildings  whose  business  it  is 
to  understand  all  about  the  electric  lighting  sys- 
tem, the  heating  and  ventilating  plants,  and  the 


2o8  THE  MUSEUM 

ordinary  cleaning,  receiving  and  shipping  of  ail 
objects.  He  should  be  responsible  for  janitors 
and  custodians  and  arrange  to  hire  and  discharge 
them.  Where  the  museum  plant  is  a  large  one 
this  officer  is  absolutely  indispensable.  He  re- 
lieves the  director  of  certain  responsibilities  and 
is  personally  accountable  to  him  for  the  safety 
of  all  museum  objects.  In  a  smaller  museum  the 
responsibility  may  be  differently  shared.  The 
gallery  man  may  be  given  charge  of  receiving 
and  shipping,  the  engineer  take  care  of  heating, 
lighting  and  ventilating,  and  the  head  custodian 
take  entire  charge  of  galleries.  This  brings  much 
more  detail  back  into  the  hands  of  the  director 
and  makes  him  responsible  for  the  safety  of  the 
objects,  as  is  the  director  of  a  European  museum. 
On  this  point  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  whereas 
in  America  the  responsibility  for  safety  from  fire 
and  theft  is  vested  in  the  superintendent  of  build- 
ings, abroad  it  is  vested  in  the  director  himself. 
Next  to  the  superintendent  the  most  important 
man  in  this  section  of  the  staff  is  the  engineer. 
He  must  have  a  thorough  knowledge  of  his 
boilers  and  will  undoubtedly  be  able  to  take  charge 
of  the  small  repairs  that  are  constantly  needed 
in  connection  with  heating,  lighting  and  ventilat- 
ing apparatus.  There  are  very  few  museums  now 
equipped  with  a  heating  system  requiring  constant 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  209 

attention,  and  unless  the  plant  be  a  large  one  the 
engineer  will  be  the  one  man  in  the  building  who 
may  not  always  be  fully  occupied.  His  hours  are 
long,  and  his  salary  not  large  considering  that 
on  his  knowledge  and  ability  rests  much  of  the 
safety  of  the  objects  in  the  museum.  For  in- 
stance, if  he  does  not  know  how  to  fire  his  boilers 
scientifically  the  clouds  of  smoke  issuing  from  the 
stacks  will  be  unbearable.  In  some  climates  and 
with  some  plants  it  is  necessary  to  provide  a 
night  engineer  as  well  as  a  day  engineer,  although 
sometimes  the  night  watchman  can  be  trusted  to 
keep  the  fires  from  going  out  during  his  watch.  A 
certain  drop  in  temperature  is,  of  course,  permis- 
sible but  much  variation  must  not  occur  or  the 
director  will  find  cracks  in  his  furniture  and  panel 
pictures. 

It  is  always  a  good  plan  to  have  at  the  door  of 
the  museum  an  attendant  with  a  commission  as 
special  police  officer.  One  of  the  guards  can  obtain 
this,  and  it  gives  him  the  right  to  make  arrests 
within  the  building  and  to  call  other  police  officers 
with  his  whistle.  Some  museums  have  a  regular 
member  of  the  police  force  on  their  staff  but  if 
this  is  done  there  must  be  a  distinct  understanding 
that  so  long  as  he  is  in  the  museum  building  he 
is  under  orders  from  the  director  or  superin- 
tendent of  buildings  and  not  from  without.  Un- 


210  THE  MUSEUM 

less  this  is  done  an  element  of  disorder  is  brought 
in  which  is  upsetting  to  discipline. 

In  museums  using  turnstiles  the  man  who  sells 
tickets  can  control  the  admissions.  Where  none 
are  used,  there  must  be  either  a  special  policeman 
or  the  head  janitor  to  watch  the  people  who  pass 
into  the  building  and  to  prevent  the  entrance  of 
undesirables.  One  museum  makes  it  a  rule  to 
forbid  entrance  to  persons  who  are  unot  suitably 
dressed."  On  such  points  this  attendant  must  rule. 

No  employee  should  be  allowed  to  enter  the 
service  of  the  museum  without  having  his  refer- 
ences thoroughly  looked  into.  In  case  the  men 
come  through  Civil  Service,  the  director  should 
have  an  understanding  with  the  Commission  that 
no  position  will  be  given  without  a  special  examina- 
tion of  references.  There  are  few  departments 
of  public  service  where  this  matter  is  so  important 
and  the  Civil  Service  bureaus  are  usually  over- 
worked and  often  unable  to  be  thorough  in  their 
investigation,  though  perfectly  willing  to  put  all 
possible  information  in  the  hands  of  the  director. 

In  selecting  men  as  custodians  most  museums 
are  hampered  in  one  way  or  another.  The  Euro- 
pean museum,  as  a  part  of  the  state  government, 
is  manned  by  retired  soldiers,  men  who  through 
long  service  to  the  state  have  acquired  respect 
and  veneration  for  public  property  that  makes 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  211 

them  reliable  and  dependable.  These  men,  once 
they  obtain  a  position,  are  there  for  life  unless 
something  unforeseen  happens.  In  America  no 
man  takes  any  such  position  with  the  intention 
of  staying  in  it  long, — only  until  he  can  find  some- 
thing better.  Few  museums  feel  that  they  can 
pay  more  than  $5O-$6o  per  month  and  for  this 
wage  permanent,  intelligent  and  active  help  can- 
not be  had.  There  are,  however,  men  who  have 
passed  the  prime  of  life  and  are  no  longer  equal 
to  a  strenuous  day's  work,  who  are  glad  to  take 
museum  positions  and  who  fill  them  satisfactorily. 
They  must  all  be  strong  enough  to  do  heavy 
cleaning  for  two  hours  every  morning  (from  8- 
10)  and  four  or  five  hours  on  Monday,  and  they 
must  have  sufficient  of  the  hermit's  spirit  not  to 
leave  their  beats  to  flock  together  and  gossip.  As 
to  intelligence,  that  they  must  possess,  although 
just  where  it  is  desirable  and  where  it  becomes 
objectionable  is  the  question.  A  too  garrulous 
custodian  who  babbles  fairy  tales  about  the 
objects  in  his  charge  is  offensive,  but  a  certain 
amount  of  knowledge  of  all  the  collections  of  the 
museum  and  a  little  accurate  information  about 
the  objects  directly  in  his  charge  is  very  desirable. 
A  careful  and  repeated  coaching  on  the  part  of 
the  director  is  worth  while.  Courtesy,  even  to  the 
most  irritating  person,  is  absolutely  necessary,  and 


212  THE  MUSEUM 

where  a  rebuke  is  to  be  administered  it  must  be 
done  with  tact  and  discretion.  A  visitor  often 
unwittingly  does  something  he  should  not  do,  and 
in  this  event  is  much  taken  aback  when  spoken 
to  abruptly.  The  museums  have  lost  many  friends 
through  rudeness  of  the  custodians.  The  num- 
ber of  custodians  needed  depends  upon  the  char- 
acter of  the  collections  and  the  number  of  visitors. 
For  the  most  part,  one  man  can  safely  guard 
three  rooms  provided  they  open  into  each  other 
with  doors  opposite.  In  case  of  crowds,  two 
rooms  are  perhaps  all  that  should  be  given  to  one 
man,  largely  on  account  of  danger  of  vandalism, 
as  the  possibility  of  theft  is  minimized  by  a  crowd. 
It  would  be  well  to  have  the  custodians  instructed 
and  drilled  as  to  what  should  be  done,  in  case 
of  fire  or  a  panic,  in  controlling  crowds,  and  what 
objects  are  most  valuable,  should  it  be  necessary 
to  remove  them.  To  have  the  custodians  take 
turns  in  assisting  the  gallery  man  in  changing  ex- 
hibitions of  pictures  and  other  objects  is  very 
important,  as  in  that  way  they  become  familiar 
with  handling  the  works  of  art. 

The  number  of  janitors  required  varies  with 
the  size  of  the  museum,  but  it  may  be  stated  as 
fairly  proportioned  if  there  are  half  as  many 
janitors  as  guards.  In  some  cases  this  will  prove 
too  large  a  number.  The  janitors  take  care  of 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  213 

polishing  floors,  which  (if  they  are  waxed)  needs 
to  be  done  once  a  month  at  least.  They  also 
keep  the  brasses  clean  and  do  such  other  extra 
cleaning  as  seems  necessary.  Their  most  im- 
portant duty  is  to'  relieve  the  guards  at  lunch 
time.  Both  janitors  and  guards  should  be  in  uni- 
form, the  former  not  necessarily  in  an  expensive 
outfit,  a  plain  khaki  with  the  initials  of  the  museum 
in  black  is  good  form.  Caps  should,  by  all  means, 
be  provided,  as  they  give  a  trig  appearance  and 
serve  to  identify  the  museum's  men.  The  guards 
are  provided  with  cloth  uniforms  which  may  be 
of  whatever  color  the  museum  chooses.  For  sum- 
mer a  light-weight  serge  is  chosen.  White  duck 
is  very  effective  but  the  laundry  is  quite  an  item. 

There  is  one  more  employee  in  this  department 
and  that  is  the  night  watchman.  He  is,  of  course, 
under  the  superintendent  of  buildings  unless  there 
is  none,  in  which  case  he  reports  to  the  director. 
His  hours  are  long  and  his  service  is  at  night, 
yet  his  salary  is  usually  small,  $60  a  month  as 
an  average.  On  him  depends  the  safety  of  the 
museum  for  fully  half  the  time.  He  must  take 
care  of  the  boilers,  make  the  rounds  once  an  hour, 
pull  the  boxes  and  be  fully  responsible.  He  must 
not  go  to  sleep,  and  he  must  have  all  his  wits  about 
him  in  case  of  sudden  emergency. 

To  keep  the  time  of  the  executive  staff  is  quite 


214  THE  MUSEUM 

a  problem.     The  best  administrators  deplore  the 
use  of  any  sort  of  machine  control  like  a  time- 
clock,  though  with  a  large  staff  of  janitors  and 
attendants  this  is  necessary.     By  far  the  best  sys- 
tem, if  practical,  is  that  of  appointing  the  men 
in  turn  as  monitor  for  a  week  to  keep  the  time 
of  the   others.     The  superintendent,   of  course, 
must  see  in  a  general  way  that  the  monitor  is 
doing  his  duty.     For  the  administrative  staff  the 
use  of  a  time-clock  has  been  tried  and  found  unde- 
sirable.    No  highly  intelligent  worker  will  shirk, 
— if  they  do,  they  are  not  wanted  in  a  museum. 
The  time  when  the  staff  comes  to  the  office  and 
the  time  that  is  taken  off  for  lunch  is  a  matter 
to  be  controlled  by  the  observation  of  the  director 
and  the  conscience  of  the  employee.     Any  other 
system   breeds   discontent   and  laziness.      Unless 
every  member  of  the  staff  is  so  devoted  to  his 
or  her  work  that  dilatoriness  and  shirking  are 
impossible,   the  museum   should  look   elsewhere. 
There  are  times  of  stress  when  the  museum  must 
keep  the  staff  overtime,  and  the  response  will  be 
instant  from  the  devoted  workers  who  feel  them- 
selves   independent,    responsible    human    beings. 
Time-clock  service  is  greatly  to  be  deplored.     It 
is  undependable   and  unintelligent   and  must  be 
constantly  watched.     In  these  days  when  the  idea 
of  individual  responsibility  is  being  used  even  in 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  215 

prisons,  time-clocks  are  out  of  date  in  museums, 
universities,  and  all  other  institutions  where  a 
high  order  of  intelligence  is  demanded. 

CLEANING  AND  AVOIDANCE  OF  DUST 

The  processes  of  cleaning  in  a  museum,  while 
similar  to  those  in  a  home,  yet  contain  some  ele- 
ments of  difference.  For  one  thing,  the  first  object 
in  a  museum  must  be  the  avoidance  of  dust.  Some 
sort  of  sweeping  compound  which  will  collect  the 
dust  is  therefore  very  valuable,  and  a  dry  mop 
is  the  most  necessary  of  tools.  Marble  floors 
have  to  be  washed  and  care  must  be  taken  in  the 
selection  of  the  soft  soap  to  be  used,  as  some 
soaps  discolor  the  marble  with  excess  fats  and 
also  leave  the  surface  very  slippery.  For  the 
marble  standing  finish,  where  streaks  will  show 
badly,  a  little  ammonia  in  the  water  is  helpful 
and  no  soap  of  any  kind  must  be  used.  Cleaning 
powders  also  should  be  avoided.  In  dusting,  the 
specially  prepared  oily  dusters  should  not  be 
used  as  they  are  hard  to  wash.  A  good  quality 
of  cheese-cloth  is  the  best  duster.  It  is  soft  and 
absorbent  and  can  be  washed  easily  and  will  not 
hurt  any  finish.  For  the  dusting  of  the  furniture 
on  exhibition,  this  is  also  valuable.  Polychromed 
sculpture  should  not  be  dusted  except  by  an  expert 
such  as  the  gallery  man  or  the  director 'himself, 


216  THE  MUSEUM 

and  then  a' very  soft  painter's  dust  brush  is  the 
most  effective.  Tapestries  should  be  dusted  from 
time  to  time  gently  and  with  a  soft  brush,  but  this 
should  not  be  done  in  the  exhibition  gallery. 
Walls  hung  with  textiles  should  be  cleaned  once 
in  six  months  with  a  vacuum  cleaner,  which  can 
also  be  used  around  the  radiators.  The  objects 
on  exhibition  should  not  be  cleaned  with  this  ap- 
paratus. The  presence  of  dust  in  a  museum  is 
not  only  unsightly,  it  is  dangerous,  for  it  breeds 
moths,  mice  and  other  pests  besides  being  injuri- 
ous to  the  objects  on  exhibition.  Paintings  should 
not  be  touched  by  the  janitors  or  custodians  but 
should  be  dusted  once  a  month  or  once  in  two 
months  at  most,  by  the  gallery  man,  using  a  piece 
of  soft,  clean  China  silk  to  wipe  off  the  face  of 
the  painting  and  a  soft  brush  or  clean  dust  cloth 
on  the  frame.  Marble  and  bronze  sculpture  also 
can  be  dusted  with  a  clean  painter's  brush.  The 
ordinary  cleaning  of  casts  is  best  done  in  this  way 
also.  A  feather  duster  is  an  instrument  of  evil. 
It  scatters  the  dust  and  the  little  bones  in  each 
feather  are  always  sharp  enough  to  scratch  any 
object  they  may  touch. 

Care  should  be  taken  in  the  use  of  all  cleaning 
tools.  They  must  be  soft  and  clean  or  they  will 
do  more  harm  than  good. 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  217 

RULES  FOR  COPYISTS  AND  PHOTOGRAPHERS 

The  policy  of  a  museum  in  regard  to  its  rela- 
tions with  copyists  and  photographers  is  a  difficult 
one  to  form.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  adver- 
tising value  of  copies  and  photographic  repro- 
ductions is  very  great.  It  remains  for  the  museum 
to  decide  whether  it  is  better  to  restrict  the 
public  privileges  or  to  give  all  possible  encour- 
agement. The  first  point  to  be  considered  is 
whether  any  of  the  objects  have  been  copyrighted, 
and  here  let  it  be  stated  that  there  are  two  kinds 
of  copyright,  the  artist's  and  the  owner's.  A  little 
pamphlet  containing  the  law  on  this  subject  is 
issued  by  the  government.  (For  English  law,  see 
Copyright  of  Works  of  Art  in  the  Museums  of 
Britain,  E.  E.  Lowe,  Museums  Journal,  vol. 
Ill,  p.  147.)  Suffice  it  to  say  that  a  museum 
owning  a  picture  has  no  right  to  copyright  the 
picture  itself.  It  can  only  copyright  reproduc- 
tions of  that  picture.  Therefore,  in  buying  a 
picture,  the  museum  that  desires  really  to  con- 
trol the  reproductions  of  that  picture  must  also 
buy  the  artist's  copyright.  The  question  is,  how 
much  advantage  accrues  to  the  museum  from 
owning  this  right.  The  Picture  Gallery  in  Basle, 
Switzerland,  is  one  of  the  few  museums  in  any 
country  that  has  made  a  satisfactory  and  profit- 


2i8  THE  MUSEUM 

able  use  of  copyrights.  It  owns  quite  a  large 
number  of  Bocklin's  paintings  and  buys  a  good 
deal  of  modern  art.  In  each  case  it  buys  the 
copyright  as  well.  This  in  turn  it  rents  to  pub- 
lishers who  are  glad  enough  to  pay  a  moderate 
price  for  the  right  to  make  photographic  and 
postcard  reproductions  and  printed  sets  of  the 
works  of  different  artists.  These  are  put  on  sale 
on  the  open  market  and  at  the  museum,  which 
clears  a  tidy  little  profit  each  year  from  royalties 
and  sales.  Incidentally  the  museum  can  control 
the  quality  of  reproductions.  The  proceeds  from 
this  form  a  fund  for  the  acquisition  of  prints,  in 
this  particular  case. 

A  picture  copyrighted  by  the  artist  cannot  be 
either  copied  or  photographed  without  a  special 
permit.  In  order  to  secure  this  copyright  it  is 
necessary  to  place  upon  the  front  of  the  canvas 

the  sign  "©  (copyright),  (date) ,  by 

(name)."  Where  only  a  certain  reproduction  is 
copyrighted  the  plate  and  each  print  bear  the 
same  mark.  It  is  thus  very  easy  to  tell  which 
works  have  been  copyrighted. 

Some  owners  are  very  particular  not  to  have 
their  pictures  photographed,  and  in  securing  a  loan 
exhibition  it  is  always  wise  to  secure  the  owner's 
permission  to  have  it  photographed  so  that  there 
would  be  no  trouble  should  occasion  arise. 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  219 

In  general  the  rules  for  copyists  are  the  same 
in  all  museums.  The  authorities  must  first  be 
satisfied  as  to  the  character  and  artistic  ability 
of  the  applicant.  Second,  copyists  can  only  be 
admitted  on  pay  days.  (This  often  gives  rise  to 
much  complaint  on  the  part  of  the  people  who 
have  paid  to  get  in!  On  the  other  hand  it  is 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  for  a  copyist  to  work 
on  a  crowded  day,  and  they  are  much  more  in 
the  way  when  there  are  many  people  all  trying 
to  see  at  once.)  Third,  the  copy  should  not  be 
the  exact  size  of  the  original.  Fourth,  the  copyist 
must  provide  a  good-sized  cloth  to  lay  on  the 
floor  under  the  easel.  Fifth,  the  copyist  must  not 
engage  in  conversation  with  the  public,  nor  offer 
his  work  for  sale.  The  museum  is  a  place  for 
serious  study,  not  a  shop.  Sixth,  every  copy  made  in 
the  museum  must  be  taken  to  the  office  when  com- 
pleted. There  it  will  be  examined  by  the  director 
and  clearly  marked  "COPY"  on  the  back  of  the 
canvas  before  it  may  be  taken  from  the  building. 

In  some  American  museums  the  third  rule  is 
now  done  away  with,  as  the  marking  of  "copy" 
on  the  back  of  the  finished  picture  is  considered 
a  sufficient  safeguard.  For  an  interesting  dis- 
cussion of  this  subject  see  in  Schinkel's  letters, 
vol.  II,  p.  321,  Wilhelm  Freiherr  von  Humboldt, 
Aug.  21,  1830,  on  Copying  in  Galleries. 


THE  MUSEUM 

Permits  are  usually  issued  which  must  be  shown 
to  the  guards  on  demand.  For  pencil  notes  or 
sketches  no  permits  are  required.  One  great  col- 
lector in  New  York  strenuously  objects  to  having 
even  notes  of  color  combinations  made  from  a 
case  containing  his  miniatures,  so  that  there  should 
always  be  an  understanding  in  the  matter. 

In  regard  to  photographs,  it  is  getting  to  be 
more  and  more  the  custom  to  permit  the  use  in 
the  museum  of  small  cameras  and  kodaks  rather 
freely,  provided  the  owner  signs  a  promise  not  to 
put  any  of  the  prints  on  sale. 

MUSEUM  PUBLICATIONS 

Under  this  head  must  be  considered  the  bul- 
letin, catalogues,  postcards,  notices  of  exhibitions 
and  photographs.  There  is  no  one  thing  more 
important  than  the  bulletin.  On  it  rests  the  major 
part  of  the  reputation  of  the  museum  outside  the 
small  group  of  intimates  who  know  its  develop- 
ment from  day  to  day.  The  greatest  care  should 
be  taken  in  the  choice  of  paper,  the  quality  of 
the  reproductions  and  the  kind  of  printing.  The 
physical  make-up  of  the  little  magazine  is  im- 
portant because  unless  it  is  attractive  and  well 
done,  no  matter  how  illuminating  the  reading 
matter  may  be,  it  will  not  be  read.  In  the  pre- 
sentation of  material  several  things  must  be 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  221 

borne  in  mind.  The  object  of  the  bulletin  is 
primarily  to  interest  and  instruct  a  lay  public; 
therefore  articles  of  a  purely  academic  nature 
are  undesirable.  On  the  other  hand,  infinite  care 
must  be  taken  never  to  talk  down  to  the  public. 
State  things  in  an  interesting  way,  avoid  excess 
of  technicalities,  and  make  the  reader  feel  an 
overwhelming  desire  to  go  to  see  the  object  de- 
scribed. The  bulletin  is  not  the  place  to  print 
articles  of  a  scientific  nature  which  will  show  the 
depth  of  the  knowledge  of  the  members  of  the 
staff.  Accuracy  of  statement  is  essential  and  the 
aim  of  the  bulletin  should  be  to  bring  to  the  at- 
tention of  its  public  the  breadth  and  scope  of  the 
collections  as  well  as  to  point  out  the  most 
interesting  objects.  An  occasional  article  on  col- 
lecting or  on  contemporary  art  or  a  discussion  of 
exhibitions  in  other  cities  can  be  introduced  with 
good  effect.  But  in  the  case  of  the  latter  it  is 
questionable  policy  to  report  an  exhibition  in  a 
neighboring  city  when  it  is  too  late  for  the  readers 
to  profit  by  the  description  in  going  to  see  the 
show.  All  matter  of  a  controversial  character 
should  be  excluded  from  the  bulletin  of  the 
museum. 

Some  bulletins  carry  advertisements  which 
greatly  help  in  the  expense  of  publication.  How- 
ever, when  this  is  done  there  should  by  all  means 


222  THE  MUSEUM 

be  a  business  manager  to  handle  this  end,  for  the 
museum  director  should  be  too  fully  occupied  with 
his  other  duties  to  be  able  to  spare  the  time  for 
getting  advertisers  and  making  up  a  complicated 
"dummy." 

Catalogues  are  the  proper  medium  for  the  ex- 
pression of  scientific  knowledge.  They  should  not 
in  any  way  take  the  place  of  labels,  but  they  should 
by  all  means  supplement  these.  A  catalogue,  to 
be  of  great  value,  should  be  a  reference  book 
which  can  be  used  for  special  study  in  the  gallery, 
but  which  is  most  valuable  for  use  at  home. 
Illustrations  are  infinitely  more  vital  than  de- 
scription, and  the  latter  should  be  used  sparingly 
to  supplement  the  former.  But,  in  order  that 
the  illustrations  may  be  more  useful,  they  must 
be  inserted  in  the  text  and  not  placed  together 
at  the  front  or  back.  An  admirable  illustration 
of  good  catalogues  is  to  be  found  in  the  publica- 
tions of  the  Kaiser  Friedrich  Museum  in  Berlin. 
The  chief  fault  one  has  to  find  with  these  is  the 
large  size  in  which  they  are  printed  which  makes 
them  awkward  to  use  on  the  spot  in  the  gallery 
itself.  The  catalogues  of  the  Metropolitan 
Museum  are  satisfactory  in  size  but  often  printed 
on  such  heavy  paper  as  to  be  quite  cumbersome 
to  use. 

There  are  a  number  of  firms  in  the  United 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  223 

States  who  make  a  specialty  of  the  publication 
of  postcards.  Hardly  any  of  them,  however,  are 
able  to  vie  with  the  results  obtained  by  the  Ger- 
man postcard  makers  in  clarity  of  detail  or  soft, 
velvety  finish,  while  the  prices  they  charge  are  so 
high  as  to  be  almost  prohibitive.  The  Art  In- 
stitute in  Chicago  is  a  shining  example  of  how 
to  cater  to  public  demand  and  make  money  at 
the  same  time.  They  publish  most  of  their  own 
cards,  having  cuts  made  by  an  expert  and  printed 
by  the  best  printers  with  care  on  specially  selected 
stock.  Their  largest  sales  and  largest  profits  are 
on  the  black  and  white  reproductions  sold  at  one 
cent  each.  Color  cards  should  never  be  sold  by 
a  museum  unless  they  are  very  accurate  both  in 
tone  and  in  exact  registering  of  plates.  The 
museum  should  stand  for  the  best  in  all  such  work. 
It  is  very  difficult  to  find  any  commercial  pho- 
tographer who  understands  how  to  photograph 
paintings  or  works  of  art.  For  this  reason  it  is 
highly  desirable  that  the  museum  should,  when- 
ever possible,  have  some  one  on  its  staff  who  can 
attend  to  this  matter.  The  modern  systems  of 
registration  call  for  small  photographs  of  every 
object  to  be  pasted  upon  the  accession  cards  and 
these  should,  of  course,  be  made  within  the 
museum.  The  expense  of  this  is  considerable  un- 
less it  can  be  done  in  odd  minutes  by  some  one 


224  THE  MUSEUM 

already  employed  in  another  capacity,  or  unless 
the  museum  has  so  much  of  this  work  that  it  re- 
quires a  photographer  constantly  in  attendance. 
It  is  often  convenient,  too,  to  have  some  one  take 
pictures  of  transient  exhibitions  for  use  in  the 
newspapers.  The  same  person  can  make  the 
photographic  postcards,  and  should  have  a  camera 
of  8xi o  size  to  use  in  making  prints  for  sale  if 
the  museum  is  fortunate  in  owning  anything  that 
reproduces  well  and  has  a  popular  appeal.  The 
small  prints  for  accession  cards  can  be  made  with 
the  same  camera  by  using  a  system  of  shutters  to 
cover  parts  of  the  plate  such  as  is  in  use  in  the 
shops  where  penny  pictures  are  taken. 

RECORDS 

The  needs  of  each  museum  in  respect  to  blanks 
are  wholly  individual  and  must  be  met  by  the 
ingenuity  of  the  director  or  by  the  aid  of  an 
expert  efficiency  man,  although  the  latter  never 
thoroughly  understands  the  peculiar  problems  of 
the  museum.  The  system  developed  by  the  Metro- 
politan is  fitted  to  an  enormous  institution  but 
is  too  cumbersome  to  be  useful,  without  modifica- 
tion, in  a  smaller  museum.  The  Boston  system 
has  a  number  of  good  points  but  again  is  not 
wholly  satisfactory.  Both  of  these  institutions 
send  out  information  carefully  tabulated  and 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  225 

copies  of  their  forms,  to  any  one  interested.  This 
subject  has  not  received  the  attention  that  it  de- 
serves and  the  following  detailed  description  is 
therefore  perhaps  not  untimely. 

In  practice  in  a  medium-sized  museum  the  prob- 
lem and  its  solution  are  as  follows :  There  are  two 
places  at  which  objects  coming  into  the  museum 
are  received:  i.  the  shipping  room  at  which  all 
loan  exhibitions  coming  in  by  express  or  freight, 
special  loans  from  individuals,  if  delivered  by  a 
team  or  expressman,  and  objects  sent  on  approval 
by  dealers,  are  received;  2.  the  director's  office 
where  are  received  objects  brought  in  by  hand,  for 
examination,  as  loans,  as  gifts,  offered  for  pur- 
chase or  to  await  action  of  accessions  committee. 
There  must,  of  course,  be  some  means  of  checking 
all  of  these  objects  both  coming  in  and  going  out. 
An  exact  record  must  be  kept,  as  otherwise  there 
is  always  a  possibility  of  trouble. 

For  objects  received  in  the  shipping  room  a 
special  form  of  record  can  be  used  upon  which  is 
entered  the  date,  number  of  boxes  received,  from 
whom  (i.  e.  what  express  or  transfer  company), 
name  of  shipper,  valuation  and  charges.  Each 
box,  as  it  comes  in,  receives  a  number  which  is  also 
entered  on  this  blank.  A  similar  sheet  is  kept  for 
outgoing  shipments.  Here  we  have  the  date, 
number  of  boxes  shipped,  numbers  on  the  boxes, 


226  THE  MUSEUM 

to  whom,  by  what  express,  valuation  and  charges 
(prepaid  or  collect).  By  means  of  these  two  lists 
a  complete  record  can  be  easily  kept  and  the 
bursar  has  a  ready  means  of  checking  up  the 
express  bills. 

There  is,  however,  one  more  form  which  must 
be  kept  in  the  shipping  room,  and  this  is  the  box 
list.  It  has  already  been  stated  that  every  box  is 
numbered  as  it  comes  in.  This  number  is  entered 
upon  a  blank  and,  following  it,  the  name  or  de- 
scription of  every  object  in  the  box  is  entered. 
This  is  sometimes  a  long  process,  but  it  is  very 
necessary.  Let  us  suppose  a  case.  A  dealer 
sends  fifteen  American  paintings  to  a  special  ex- 
hibition. They  arrive  on  January  26th  in  five 
cases  which  are  numbered  90-94  inclusive.  They 
go  on  exhibition  for  a  month  and  are  taken 
down  February  28th.  As  no  word  has  come 
from  the  dealer  telling  what  is  to  become  of  them 
after  this  date,  they  are  put  in  storage.  About 
March  I5th  comes  a  letter  from  the  dealer  ask- 
ing to  have  Nos.  i,  5  and  7  sent  to  Detroit,  No. 
ii  to  Boston  and  No.  8  to  Chicago;  the  re- 
mainder are  to  be  returned  to  New  York.  In 
the  office  where  this  letter  is  received  the  records 
are  consulted  and  the  following  notice  to  the 
packer  made  out: 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  227 

ORDER  No.  16 

Please  ship  to-day  via  Franconia  Express 
X  Prepaid,  Collect,  Valuation  $500  on  each  box 
To  Messrs.  Roderique  &  Son 

310  Fifth  Ave.,  N.  Y.y  N.  Y. 
Nos.  2,  5,  4,  6,  9,  jo,  12,  13,  14,  75,  in   February 
exhibition,  being  paintings  by  Davis  (j),  H  ass  am  (2), 
Friesecke  (2),  Davies  (/),  Bellows  (j),  Henri  (2). 

William  Leavitt,  Director. 
March  i6y  191-    These  paintings  were  rec'd  Jan.  26. 

A  similar  notice  is  made  out  for  the  special  ship- 
ments requested  by  the  dealer.  The  packer  then 
consults  his  list  of  arrivals,  and  finds  under  date 
of  January  26th :  "Received  5  boxes  numbered  90, 
91,  92,  93,  94,  from  Roderique  &  Son,  via 
Franconia  Express,  $500  on  each  box,  charges 
prepaid."  Turning  to  his  box  list  he  finds  that 
box  90  contained  pictures  15,  3,  5,  7,  etc.  But 
owing  to  the  fact  that  all  the  pictures  are  not 
to  be  returned  to  the  same  place,  they  must  be 
differently  packed,  so  he  enters  in  his  list  the  fact 
"Box  90  shipped  to  Detroit  per  order  No.  — 
with  Nos.  i,  5,  7."  A  similar  record  is  kept  of  all 
the  pictures  which  are  packed  in  the  old  boxes  as 
far  as  possible.  In  his  shipping  list  he  enters 


228  THE  MUSEUM 

"Shipped  March  16,  3  boxes  Nos.  91,  92,  94  to 
Messrs.  Roderique  &  Son,  N.  Y.,  via  Fr.  Ex.,  $500 
on  each  box,  charges  prepaid.'7  On  the  same  day 
he  notifies  the  office  that  the  shipment  has  been 
made,  and  the  office  writes  a  letter  to  Detroit, 
to  Boston,  and  to  Chicago,  saying  uWe  have 
been  asked  by  Messrs.  Roderique  and  Company 
to  send  you  certain  pictures  (mention  them  by 
name).  They  have  been  shipped  to  you  to-day 
via  Franconia  Express  prepaid,  valuation  $500 
on  each  box.  Kindly  notify  us  if  you  do  not 
receive  them  promptly."  To  Messrs.  Roderique 
and  Company  a  letter  goes,  repeating  their  in- 
structions and  stating  that  the  shipment  has  been 
made. 

There  is  thus  a  complete  record  on  file  of  all  the 
processes  in  the  handling  of  this  shipment.  The 
notification  to  the  lender  that  a  shipment  has  been 
made  is  important  legally  in  case  of  loss  in  transit. 

We  have  already  referred  to  the  office  end. 
Let  us  return  to  that  and  see  what  records  are 
kept  there.  When  the  record  has  been  entered 
in  the  packer's  lists,  he  notifies  the  office  that  he 
has  received  a  shipment  and  what  it  contains.  The 
director  then  decides  what  is  to  be  done  with  the 
objects,  brought  to  his  office,  put  in  the  store 
room,  or  on  exhibition.  He  then  notifies  his 
assistant  who  enters  in  the  loan  book  the  fact  of 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS 


229 


its  arrival  with  date.    The  headings  of  the  spaces 
in  this  book  may  be  arranged  as  follows: 


Date 
rec'd. 

Loan 

No. 

Title 
of 
work. 

Name 
of 
artist. 

Lent 
by 

Insured 
amt.  and 
by 
whom. 

Valu- 
ation. 

Date 
ret'd. 

The  numbers  in  this  book  are  consecutive  during 
any  one  year.  And  right  here  let  it  be  stated 
that  there  is  no  one  thing  which  causes  more  in- 
convenience and  difficulty  in  bookkeeping  than 
having  the  beginning  of  the  fiscal  year  come  at 
some  other  time  than  at  the  beginning  of  the 
calendar  year.  For  in  all  the  systems  of  num- 
bering in  use  in  museums,  the  year  of  acquisition 
is  always  used  in  conjunction  with  the  running 
accessions  number,  and  to  figure  exactly  how 
many  objects  had  been  received  from  October  ist 
to  October  ist  is  always  inconvenient  and  con- 
fusing, whereas  from  January  ist  to  January  ist 
the  last  number  itself  tells. 

Any  object  which  is  loaned  to  the  museum  for 
exhibition  purposes  is  entered  in  this  book.  An 
object  sent  in  for  examination  only  should  be 


230 


THE  MUSEUM 


entered  in  a  book  kept  by  the  director  himself 
as  follows : 


Date 

rec'd. 

No. 

Class 
of 
object. 

Title. 

Attrib- 
uted 
to 

Sent 
in 
by 

Val. 

Re- 
marks. 

Date 
ret'd. 

In  this  way,  a  confidential  record  can  be  kept 
which  may  save  much  trouble  especially  when  the 
same  object  is  presented  again  by  another  party, 
as  frequently  happens.  In  this  book  the  numbers 
should  be  simply  consecutive. 

Any  object  offered  as  a  gift  or  for  sale  is 
entered  on  a  special  blank  such  as  those  shown 
on  pages  243  and  245.  To  these  blanks  are  at- 
tached any  correspondence  there  may  be  about 
the  object,  and  notes  made  by  the  director.  When 
action  has  been  taken  the  blanks  for  objects  ac- 
cepted are  passed  on  to  the  assistant  in  charge 
of  the  accession  book  who  enters  the  information 
necessary,  provided  the  object  has  been  received 
by  the  museum.  When  this  is  accomplished  the 
blank  goes  to  the  bursar  who  finds  in  it  his  author- 
ization to  pay  the  bill  when  presented.  These 
blanks  he  then  keeps  arranged  according  to  date. 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  231 

The  card  catalogue  of  accessions  and  the  acces- 
sions book  together  form  the  index  for  these 
blanks.  Gift  blanks  and  blanks  for  objects  offered 
and  not  purchased  are  kept  on  file. 

We  come  now  to  identification  of  the  objects 
themselves.  It  is  customary  to  use  a  little  paper 
sticker  or  a  small  strung  tag  for  objects  loaned 
to  a  museum.  These  stickers  have  the  name  of 
the  institution  printed  upon  them  and  the  loan 
number  is  written  in  in  ink.  Objects  temporarily 
in  the  museum,  as  those  which  are  offered  for 
purchase  or  sent  for  examination,  do  not  receive 
any  number  to  identify  them.  The  regular  ac- 
cessions, however,  have  the  number  painted  on 
with  bright  red  or  black  oil  color  paint,  sometimes 
mixed  with  siccatif  or  varnish.  Care  must  be 
taken  that  these  numbers  are  so  placed  as  to  be 
as  inconspicuous  as  possible.  On  paintings,  they 
can  be  placed  upon  the  back  of  the  canvas  or 
stretcher,  on  small  bronzes,  on  or  under  the  base, 
on  porcelains,  under  the  base,  etc.  Laces  are 
marked  with  tags  of  linen  tape  upon  which  the 
number  is  written  in  indelible  ink. 

A  form  of  loan  or  temporary  receipt  is  very 
necessary  in  some  instances.  The  Metropolitan 
uses  both.  ,  In  a  smaller  museum  one  is  quite  suffi- 
cient. Forms  are  given  here  for  both,  but  most 
museums  will  find  it  sufficient  to  have  only  some- 


232  THE  MUSEUM 

thing  similar  to  the  temporary  receipt  form 
printed.  These  should  be  numbered  consecutively 
and  are  convenient  if  made  in  book  form  although 
in  tablet  form  they  can  be  used  in  the  typewriter. 

One  other  form  is  necessary,  and  that  is  the 
sticker  to  be  attached  to  objects  taken  out  of 
the  building.  Persons  entering  the  building  are 
obliged  to  leave  parcels,  etc.,  at  the  door  unless 
they  ask  for  the  director  and  have  something  to 
show  him.  In  this  case  they  are  allowed  to  take 
the  package  in  but  they  may  not  take  it  out  unless 
it  is  provided  with  a  pass  made  in  two  pieces, 
a  stub  which  is  glued  to  the  package,  and  an  end 
which  is  torn  off  by  the  gate  keeper  and  returned 
to  the  office.  Objects  going  out  by  the  receiving- 
room  door  must  all  be  checked  by  the  packer  or 
superintendent  of  buildings,  and  do  not  need  this 
tag.  Since  the  theft  of  the  Mona  Lisa,  a  visitor 
to  the  Louvre  is  not  allowed  to  take  from  the 
building  a  photograph  or  a  package  of  postcards 
which  he  has  bought  in  the  gallery,  without  being 
provided  with  a  pass  one  end  of  which  is  pasted 
over  the  joining  of  the  wrapping  paper  so  as  to 
insure  the  impossibility  of  opening  it  and  sub- 
stituting some  other  object.  These  stickers  are 
best  made  of  paper  that  is  not  too  thick  and 
should  be  well  gummed. 

Form  letters  are  used  by  some  large  museums 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  233 

but  in  most  cases  a  simple  note  can  be  dictated 
quite  as  quickly  as  to  indicate  the  form  to  be  used, 
and  the  impression  created  is  much  more  favor- 
able. A  somewhat  elaborate  form  in  the  nature 
of  a  diploma  is  used  in  acknowledging  a  gift,  and 
this  is  of  value  psychologically,  especially  in  deal- 
ing with  certain  types  of  persons.  A  suggestion 
for  this  form  is  shown  on  page  246. 

Every  object  acquired  by  the  museum,  whether 
by  gift  or  purchase,  should  be  entered  in  the  acces- 
sions book  in  the  order  in  which  it  is  received, 
but — no  object  should  be  counted  as  an  accession 
until  it  has  been  received,  unpacked,  numbered 
and  entered.  Suppose,  for  instance,  a  museum 
were  to  acquire  a  collection  of  fifty  snuff  boxes, 
and  pay  for  them  on  September  3Oth,  and  on 
October  2d  at  the  annual  meeting  announce  the 
purchase  and  add  fifty  to  the  number  of  accessions 
for  the  year.  By  some  misunderstanding  or  delay, 
the  shipment  is  not  made  until  January  and  the 
boxes  come  at  a  very  inopportune  time  and  can- 
not be  unpacked  till  February.  By  rights,  having 
announced  the  purchase,  fifty  numbers  should  be 
left  in  the  accessions  book  and  the  other  objects 
received  after  the  report  put  in  later,  but  this 
case  is  often  exaggerated  and  sometimes  the  exact 
number  of  pieces  in  a  new  collection  is  not  known. 
It  is  therefore  much  better  to  count  no  accession 


234  THE  MUSEUM 

that  is  not  entered  in  the  book.  This  book 
should  be  kept  in  library  hand  and  should  be 
the  responsibility  of  one  person  and  one  alone. 
It  should  be  arranged  so  that  the  material  to 
be  entered  goes  across  two  pages,  and  it  is  very 
convenient  to  have  twenty-five  lines  to  the  page. 
The  usual  number  of  objects  allowed  for  in  a 
book  is  five  thousand.  The  page  should  be 
divided  as  shown  on  p.  252  of  Appendix.  A  loose- 
leaf  accessions  book  should  not  be  used  because 
of  the  danger  of  loss  of  any  sheet.  Each  line  is 
provided  with  a  running  number  so  that  the  mu- 
seum can  at  any  time  discover  the  number  of  its 
accessions,  but  this  is  not  the  accessions  number. 
This  last  is  a  compound  made  up  of  two  figures 
to  indicate  the  year  of  the  accession  and  the 
running  number  to  indicate  the  order  in  which 
the  objects  have  been  acquired  in  the  year.  Thus 
in  1916  the  thirty-second  accession  in  that  year 
would  be  numbered  16.32.  In  some  museums 
these  numbers  are  reversed,  thus,  32.16.  The 
loans  receive  similar  numbers  preceded  by  the 
capital  letter  L.  Again,  some  museums  use  the 
two  combinations  differently,  i.  e.  for  accessions 
16.32  and  for  loans  L.  32.16.  This  system,  how- 
ever, is  apt  to  be  confusing  until  one  is  thoroughly 
familiar  with  it,  and  there  is  little  danger  of 
mistake  because  the  loan  number  is  never  put 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  235 

directly  on  any  object  but  always  on  a  tag  or 
label  attached  to  it. 

There  is  never  but  one  copy  of  the  accessions 
book.  The  card  catalogue  of  accessions,  how- 
ever, should  be  made  in  duplicate  or  triplicate 
according  to  the  size  of  the  museum.  It  should 
be  kept  thoroughly  up  to  date  and  there  should 
always  be  a  complete  copy  somewhere  outside  the 
museum  building  in  case  of  accident  of  any  kind, 
fire,  earthquake  or  other  disturbance.  One  copy 
should  always  be  in  the  director's  office,  another, 
covering  all  material  in  his  department,  in  the 
office  of  the  curator.  A  sample  card  will  be  found 
on  page  251. 

All  information  should  be  on  the  front  side  of 
the  card.  Certain  museums  use  cards  of  extraor- 
dinary size.  This  is  quite  unnecessary.  The  most 
satisfactory  method  is  always  to  use  standard 
sizes.  The  ordinary  4x6  card  is  quite  large 
enough.  It  should  be  without  lines,  so  that  it  can 
more  easily  be  used  in  the  typewriter.  For  this 
reason  also  it  should  be  of  rather  thin  board. 
The  custom  of  mounting  a  small  photograph  of 
the  object  upon  the  card  is  admirable.  It  makes 
identification  much  simpler,  and  where  this  is  done 
it  also  makes  a  long  and  detailed  description  of 
the  object  unnecessary.  The  best  museum  prac- 
tice demands  that  only  such  facts  as  cannot  be 


236  THE  MUSEUM 

discovered  in  the  photograph  be  entered  on  the 
card.  Some  museums  enter  the  name  of  the 
dealer  from  whom  an  object  is  bought  and  the 
price  paid,  on  the  accession  cards.  This  material 
has  its  proper  place  in  the  accessions  book  but 
should  not  be  accessible  to  the  public.  The  card 
catalogue,  like  the  catalogues  of  a  library,  should 
be  such  that  a  competent  student  might  consult  it 
at  his  leisure. 

ADVERTISING 

The  time  has  gone  by  when  the  trustees  of  a 
museum  are  satisfied  to  have  their  institution 
merely  a  storehouse  of  dead  art.  It  must  be  a 
living  and  vital  force  in  the  life  of  the  community, 
and  in  order  that  this  shall  be  so,  something  must 
be  done  to  bring  the  people  to  the  building. 

Educational  work  with  the  school  children  is, 
of  course,  the  best  method  of  advertising  that 
could  be  devised,  for  where  the  children  know 
and  understand  the  collections,  the  use  of  the 
museum  by  the  "grown  ups"  is  bound  to  follow. 
So  strongly  has  this  been  felt  that  museum  instruc- 
tion has  now  become  a  distinct  branch  of  museum 
work. 

But  there  are  many  other  forms  of  advertising 
that  have  received  the  sanction  of  usage  in  our 
best-known  museums  to-day.  The  commonest  of 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  237 

these  is  the  use  of  display  cards  in  or  upon  the 
street-cars  of  the  city.  In  some  cities  these  are 
only  used  in  the  cars  running  directly  to  the  art 
museum.  In  other  cities  they  advertise  the  col- 
lections or  temporary  exhibitions,  and  are  to  be 
found  in  all  the  cars.  In  certain  rare  instances 
where  the  president  of  the  street-car  company  hap- 
pens to  take  a  special  interest,  these  cards  are 
carried  free.  In  other  places  the  museum  is 
obliged  to  pay  for  them  as  any  other  enterprise 
would  have  to  do.  But  the  art  of  advertising 
does  not  stop  with  the  decision  to  spend  some 
money  on  display  cards.  The  form  in  which  they 
are  printed  is  important,  and  the  museum  must 
realize  that  all  advertising  is  governed  by  psy- 
chological laws,  and  that  a  design  for  street-car 
cards  that  would  be  very  appropriate  and  delight- 
ful if  it  could  be  examined  at  close  range  is  often 
totally  illegible  or  unattractive  when  seen  from 
the  sidewalk  or  even  from  the  length  of  the  car. 
Brilliant  color  can  be  artistic  and  it  has  carrying 
power.  The  legend  must  be  short  and  to  the 
point. 

Some  museums  have  discovered  that  they  can 
reach  the  newcomer  in  their  city  by  means  of 
small  advertisements  placed  in  the  railroad  sta- 
tions and  hotels,  and  although  both  hotels  and 
railroad  stations  are  loath  to  break  their  rules 


238  THE  MUSEUM 

against  the  display  of  such  cards,  they  can  some- 
times be  induced  to  place  a  small  and  well-designed 
sign  of  this  sort  where  it  will  do  a  great  deal 
of  good.  In  a  city  where  there  are  several  mu- 
seums, co-operation  between  them  often  secures 
opportunities  of  this  kind  which  would  not  other- 
wise be  available.  Almost  every  city  now  has  an 
active  organization  interested  especially  in  the 
development  of  its  resources;  sometimes  a  cham- 
ber of  commerce,  sometimes  a  private  association 
or  club  like  the  Minneapolis  Civic  and  Com- 
merce Association.  Through  this  agency,  cards 
can  be  distributed,  giving  the  hours  that  the 
museum  is  open,  price  of  admission,  and  a  sum- 
mary of  the  collection,  as  well  as  indicating  the 
main  lines  of  approach.  Free  publicity  is  given 
by  the  prominent  newspapers,  either  in  their  news 
or  art  columns,  to  announcements  of  lectures, 
special  exhibitions,  new  accessions,  or  items  of 
general  news.  Some  museums  regard  this  as  of 
such  importance  that  they  have  a  special  publicity 
manager  on  their  staff.  Others  attempt  to  handle 
the  giving  out  of  news  through  the  separate  de- 
partments. 

Almost  all  of  our  larger  museums  spend  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  money  in  advertising  of  one  kind 
or  another.  The  most  scholarly  form  which  this 
takes  is,  of  course,  the  museum  bulletin,  but  this 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  239 

organ  is  read  by  a  very  small  number  of  the 
people  to  whom  it  is  sent.  We  are  trying  more 
and  more  to  make  the  collections  in  our  museums 
tell  their  story  and  interest  the  public,  and  very 
soon  we  shall  find  that  the  bulletins  also  will  be 
written  with  this  special  object  in  view  and  they 
will  no  longer  be  thrown  away.  In  this  respect, 
the  museum  is  in  the  same  position  as  the  com- 
mercial house  publishing  its  "house  organ,"  and 
some  of  the  methods  adopted  in  the  clever  little 
magazines  produced  by  some  of  these  firms  might 
well  serve  to  assist  the  museum  to  perform  its 
mission  of  educating  through  its  bulletin.  Many 
of  the  museums  and  art  societies  are  sending  out 
postcard  notices  to  their  members,  giving  a  list 
of  exhibitions  and  lectures,  and  these  may  be  made 
very  valuable;  but  a  cleverly  worded  and  well- 
designed  paid  advertisement  in  the  newspapers 
would  be  still  more  efficacious. 

Certain  of  our  museums  are  undertaking  ad- 
vertising of  a  different  form  by  conducting  cam- 
paigns for  civic  betterment  with  headquarters  at 
the  museum.  This  is  a  perfectly  legitimate 
method  and  brings  a  museum  into  close  relation 
with  the  people  of  the  city.  Many  museum  offi- 
cials who  are  imbued  with  traditions  of  scholarly 
aloofness  look  askance  at  such  movements  as  city- 
beautiful  campaigns  and  bird  campaigns.  These 


240  THE  MUSEUM 

may  not  be  directly  connected  with  an  art  museum, 
but  they  are  directly  connected  with  the  interests 
of  the  city,  and  what  is  more  logical  than  that 
the  museum  should  be  the  centre  from  which  radi- 
ates civic  improvement?  We  are  living  in  a 
different  age  from  that  of  our  fathers,  and  it  is 
only  right  that  the  museum  should  make  use  of 
the  different  agencies  open  to  us  in  this  generation. 
In  this  connection,  a  rough  table  showing  the 
percentage  of  art  museum  visitors  to  the  popula- 
tion in  seven  cities  may  be  of  interest.  The 
population  is  figured  in  all  cases  from  the  census 
of  1910,  the  attendance  figures  are  in  some  cases 
for  1915,  and  in  some  cases  for  1914,  according 
to  the  data  available. 

Toledo,  68%  St.  Louis,  24% 

Chicago,  40%  Minneapolis,  19% 

Boston,  32%  Indianapolis,  15% 

New  York,  14% 

It  is  interesting  to  note  in  this  connection  that 
Toledo  does  more  advertising  than  any  other  of 
these  museums,  and  the  result  is  obvious.  There 
is  hardly  a  street  urchin  in  the  city  who  does  not 
know  and  love  the  museum.  Whatever  the  preju- 
dices in  favor  of  the  dignity  of  a  museum,  all 
directors  are  trying  to  bring  cultural  influences 
into  the  lives  of  the  people,  and  in  order  to  do 


OFFICIAL  QUESTIONS  241 

this  there  must  be  some  way  of  increasing  the  at- 
tendance. Advertising  is  the  modern  medium,  and 
to  be  up  to  date  the  museum  must  extend  its  ad- 
vertising. 

CONCLUSION 

After  studying  all  phases  of  the  situation  and 
reading  such  articles  as  are  available  on  the  sub- 
ject, in  order  not  to  duplicate  costly  and  unsuc- 
cessful experiments,  the  museum  director  must 
proceed  according  to  his  judgment.  There  must 
never  be  a  universal  standard  of  right  and  wrong 
in  our  museums.  Each  one  must  be  individual 
and  distinguished  in  some  special  way.  The  col- 
lections are  the  important  feature  and  the  genius 
of  the  director  will  show  in  his  ability  to  make 
them  vital  and  original. 


APPENDIX 
BLANKS 

IN  printing  blanks  for  use  in  a  typewriter,  the 
printer  should  be  warned  to   arrange   the 
lines  according  to  the  width  of  the  spacing 
on  the  machine  to  be  used. 

NAME  OF  INSTITUTION 
OFFER  FOR  PURCHASE 

Object 

Price 

{by  letter Date 
in  person 

Name 

Address 

Remarks 

I  recommend  that  this  offer  be 

Director . 

Action  of  Acquisitions  Committee 

Date 

(Signature) Chairman 

Action  of  Executive  Committee 

Date 

(Signature) Chairman 

Notice  of  action  sent 

243 


244  APPENDIX 

NAME  OF  INSTITUTION 

LOAN 
Object 

{by  letter Date., 
in  person 

Lender 

Address 

Remarks. . 


I  recommend  that  this  offer  be 

Director 

Action  of  Executive  Committee 

Date 

(Signature) Chairman 

Notice  of  action  sent .  . 


APPENDIX  245 


NAME  OF  INSTITUTION 

GIFT 
Object 

!by  letter Date., 
in  person 

Donor 

Address 

Remarks. . 


I  recommend  that  this  offer  be 

Director 

Action  of  Acquisitions  Committee 

Date 

(Signature) Chairman 

Action  of  Executive  Committee 

Date 

(Signature) Chairman 

Notice  of  action  sent .  . 


246  APPENDIX 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT  OF  GIFT 

THE  BLANK 

MUSEUM  OF  ART 

BLANK 

THE  TRUSTEES  OF 

THE  BLANK  MUSEUM 

OF  ART  GRATEFULLY 

ACCEPT  THE 


WHICH 

HAS  KINDLY  GIVEN  TO 
THE  MUSEUM. 


SECRETARY. 


APPENDIX 


247 


The  two  following  blanks  should  be  made  out 
in  duplicate  and  the  carbon  kept  on  file: 

Loan  Receipt  No ... 

NAME  OF  INSTITUTION 

19-. 

Received  from 

as  a  loan  for ,  the  objects  described 

below,  subject  to  the  conditions  printed  on  the  back 


of  this  sheet. 


Director. 


No. 

Description  of  Objects. 

Value. 

248  APPENDIX 


CONDITIONS  TO  BE  PRINTED  ON  BACK 
OF  RECEIPT 

1.  Objects  will  not  be  returned  to  their  owners  except 
on  presentation  and  surrender  of  this  receipt,  or,  if  it  be 
lost,  upon  certification  of  such  fact  by  the  owner,  or  his 
legal  representative,  and  presentation  of  a  written  order  for 
delivery  signed  by  the  owner  or  by  such  representative. 

2.  In  case  of  the  death  of  a  lender,  the  legal  representa- 
tive of  the  deceased  shall  notify  the  Director  of  the  Insti- 
tute forthwith,  giving  his  full  name  and  address  in  writing. 

3.  The   Institute   of  Arts    assumes   no   responsibility    in 
regard  to  objects  loaned  to  it  for  exhibition  beyond  the  exer- 
cise of  such  precautions  as  are  observed  for  the  safeguarding 
of  its  own  collections. 

4.  Permission  to  copy  or  photograph  works  of  art  lent 
to  the  Institute  is  granted  only  after  consent  has  been  ob- 
tained from  the  owners. 


APPENDIX 


249 


Temporary  Receipt  No 

NAME  OF  INSTITUTION 

19.- 

Received  from  {  Name- • 

[  Address 

{for  gift 
as  loan 
for  purchase 

the  objects  described  below,  subject  to  the  condi- 
tions printed  on  the  back  of  this  receipt. 

For  the  Director. . . 


No. 


Description  of  Objects. 


Value. 


250  APPENDIX 


CONDITIONS  TO  BE  PRINTED  ON  BACK 
OF  RECEIPT 

1.  This  receipt  must  in  all  cases  be  returned  to  the  Insti- 
tute upon  notification  of  the  action  of  the  Trustees  in  regard 
to  the  objects  hereon  enumerated. 

In  the  case  of  accepted  loans  another  receipt  will  be  given, 
and  in  the  case  of  purchases  or  gifts  accepted  this  receipt 
becomes  void. 

2.  Objects  will  not  be  returned  to  their  owners  except  on 
presentation  and  surrender  of  this  receipt,  or,  if  it  be  lost, 
upon  certification  of  such  fact  by  the  owner,  or  his  legal 
representative,    and    presentation    of   a    written    order    for 
delivery  signed  by  the  owner  or  by  such  representative. 

3.  The   Institute   will   take    the   same   precautions   with 
objects  temporarily  in  its  possession  as  with  its  own  per- 
manent collection,  but  will  not  assume  any  further  responsi- 
bility for  such  objects. 

If  the  receipt  is  not  presented  when  objects  are 
returned  a  receipt  should  be  given  the  museum  by 
the  person  taking  the  object  away. 


APPENDIX 


251 


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252 


APPENDIX 


PASS 


NAME  OF  INSTITUTION 
Pass  the  

NAME  OF  INSTITUTION 
Gatekeeper's  Check 
Pass  the. 

to  which  this  is  attached 
Signed  

to  which  this  is  attached 
Signed      

Date  

Date  

No  

No     

ACCESSIONS  BOOK  PAGE,  LEFT-HAND  LEAF 


Running  No. 

Accession  No. 

Date. 

Description. 

I 

2 
3 

16.1 
16.2 

Jan.  15,  1916 
Jan.  26,  1916 

Painting,  Portrait  of  George 
Washington  by  Stuart 
Iron  bracket,  Italian, 
Florentine,  XVI  Cent. 

ACCESSIONS  BOOK  PAGE,  RIGHT-HAND  LEAF 


Gift  or  Purchase. 

From  Whom 
Acquired. 

Remarks. 

Measure- 
ments. 

Cost. 

Gift  of  Mrs.  J.  Brown 
Purchase 

Roderique  &  Co. 
310  5th  Ave., 
N.Y. 

Formerly  on  the 
Palazzo  Vanni, 
Florence. 

Stretcher 
24X36 
12X36 

*3SO. 

APPENDIX  253 


BY-LAWS 

The  following  are  the  Articles  of  Incorporation 
and  By-Laws  of  the  Minneapolis  Society  of  Fine 
Arts,  which  are  here  published  by  courtesy  of  the 
President  of  the  Society.  They  take  the  place  of 
the  charter  or  constitution  which  in  some  states 
is  necessary.  They  are  included  here  as  an  ex- 
ample of  the  subjects  to  be  covered  in  such  cases, 
but  could  not  be  used  without  modification.  It 
is  the  custom,  and  a  very  wise  one,  to  have  the 
director  present  at  all  meetings  of  the  trustees, 
and  at  any  meeting  of  a  standing  committee  at 
which  matters  with  which  he  is  familiar  are  to 
be  discussed.  He  should  be  thoroughly  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  trustees,  and  they  with  him,  or 
the  work  cannot  prosper. 


254  APPENDIX 

ARTICLES  OF  INCORPORATION 

OF 
THE  MINNEAPOLIS  SOCIETY  OF  FINE  ARTS 

(Filed  February  2,  1883). 

We,  the  undersigned,  do  hereby  associate  our- 
selves for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  corporation 
under  the  provisions  of  title  three  (3)  of  chapter 
thirty-four  (34)  of  the  general  statutes  of  the 
State  of  Minnesota,  and  the  acts  amendatory 
thereof,  and  to  that  end  hereby  adopt  and  sign 
the  following  Articles  of  Incorporation: 

ARTICLE  I 

The  name  of  the  corporation  shall  be  "The 
Minneapolis  Society  of  Fine  Arts." 

The  general  purposes  of  this  corporation  shall 
be  to  foster  and  to  promote  educational,  artistic 
and  scientific  interests.  No  pecuniary  gain  or 
profit  shall  accrue  from  membership  in  the  Society. 

The  plan  of  operation  of  the  Society  shall  be 
to  establish,  own  or  control,  and  to  maintain, 
museums,  galleries  and  libraries;  to  acquire  books 
and  manuscripts,  scientific  collections,  and  objects 
of  fine  and  industrial  arts;  to  institute  and  support 
schools,  and  to  provide  lectures,  instruction  and 


APPENDIX  255 

entertainments  in  furtherance  of  the  general  pur- 
poses of  the  Society. 

The  location  of  the  corporation  shall  be  in  the 
city  of  Minneapolis,  Hennepin  County,  Minnesota. 

ARTICLE  II 

This  corporation  is  formed  without  capital 
stock. 

ARTICLE  III 

Section  i.  Those  persons  who  are  now,  or 
shall  hereafter  become,  benefactors,  patrons,  fel- 
lows in  perpetuity  and  fellows  for  life,  and  such 
other  classes  of  members  as  may  be  established 
by  by-law  and  so  designated,  shall  be  members  of 
the  corporation  entitled  to  vote  for  the  election  of 
trustees  of  the  Society,  and  upon  other  matters 
pertaining  to  its  direction  and  the  carrying  out  of 
its  purposes.  Such  persons  shall  be  known  as 
Governing  Members.  At  any  meeting  of  the  cor- 
poration, any  of  such  members  shall  have  the 
right  to  be  represented  by  proxy,  to  be  appointed 
in  writing  signed  by  such  member. 

Section  2.  Any  person  who  shall  contribute 
to  the  Society  money  or  property,  accepted  by  the 
Society,  of  the  value  of  twenty-five  thousand  dol- 
lars ($25,000)  shall  be  eligible  to  be  chosen  a 


256  APPENDIX 

Benefactor  of  the  Society  by  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees, and,  when  so  chosen,  shall  have  the  privilege 
of  appointing  a  successor,  who  shall  be  a  fellow 
in  perpetuity,  with  all  the  rights  of  such  fellow. 

Section  3.  Any  person  who  shall  contribute 
to  the  Society  money  or  property,  accepted  by  the 
Society,  of  the  value  of  ten  thousand  dollars 
($10,000)  shall  be  eligible  to  be  chosen  a  Patron 
of  the  Society  by  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and, 
when  so  chosen,  shall  have  the  privilege  of  ap- 
pointing a  successor,  who  shall  be  a  fellow  in 
perpetuity,  with  all  the  rights  of  such  fellow. 

Section  4.  Any  person  who  shall  contribute 
to  the  Society  money  or  property,  accepted  by  the 
Society,  of  the  value  of  five  thousand  dollars 
($5000)  shall  be  eligible  to  be  chosen  as  a  Fellow 
in  Perpetuity  of  the  Society  by  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees. Such  person,  when  so  chosen,  shall  have 
a  fellow's  right  in  perpetuity,  with  the  privilege 
of  appointing  a  successor  in  such  fellowship  in 
perpetuity,  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  by-law. 

Section  5.  Any  person  who  shall  contribute 
to  the  Society  money  or  property,  accepted  by  the 
Society,  of  the  value  of  one  thousand  dollars 
($1000)  shall  be  eligible  to  be  chosen  a  Fellow 
for  Life  by  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

Section  6.  The  Governing  Members  of  the 
corporation  may,  by  by-law,  constitute  other  classes 


APPENDIX  257 

of  members,  upon  such  conditions  as  the  by-laws 
shall  prescribe,  who  shall  be  entitled  to  free  admis- 
sion to  the  exhibition  rooms  of  the  Society  at  all 
reasonable  times,  and  the  enjoyment  of  such  other 
privileges  as  may  be  permitted  by  by-law. 


ARTICLE  IV 

Section  i .  The  government  of  the  corporation 
and  the  management  of  its  affairs  shall  be  vested 
in  a  Board  of  Trustees,  consisting  of  not  less  than 
fifteen  nor  more  than  thirty  elective  members,  to 
be  fixed  by  resolution  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
and,  in  addition,  the  Mayor,  for  the  time  being, 
of  the  City  of  Minneapolis,  the  president,  for  the 
time  being,  of  the  Board  of  Park  Commissioners 
of  the  City  of  Minneapolis,  the  president,  for 
the  time  being,  of  the  Library  Board  of  the  City 
of  Minneapolis,  and  the  president,  for  the  time 
being,  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  City  of 
Minneapolis,  ex  officio.  Said  elective  trustees  shall 
be  chosen  by  the  Governing  Members  of  the  cor- 
poration at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  members 
which  shall  be  held  at  the  office  of  the  Society 
in  the  City  of  Minneapolis  on  the  second  Wednes- 
day in  October.  Said  Trustees  shall  hold  office, 
respectively,  for  the  term  of  five  years  and  until 
their  successors  shall  be  elected  and  shall  enter 


258  APPENDIX 

upon  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  and  shall  be 
divided  into  five  classes,  as  nearly  equal  in  number 
as  may  be,  and  the  terms  of  office  of  said  classes 
shall  expire  in  successive  years,  so  that  in  each 
year  the  members  of  one  class  only  shall  be  elected 
for  the  full  term  of  five  years.  Whenever  the 
number  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  shall  be  in- 
creased, the  additional  members  shall  be  elected 
by  the  Board  and  each  of  the  newly  elected  Trus- 
tees shall  be  assigned  by  the  Board  to  one  of 
said  classes,  and  his  term  shall  expire  with  that 
of  the  class  to  which  he  is  assigned.  In  case  a 
vacancy  shall  occur  in  the  Board  of  Trustees,  by 
reason  of  the  enlargement  of  its  membership  or 
otherwise,  the  existing  Trustees  may  fill  the  same 
for  the  unexpired  term,  at  any  regular  or  special 
meeting  of  the  Board. 

Section  2.  The  officers  of  the  corporation 
shall  be  a  president,  three  (3)  vice-presidents,  a 
secretary  and  treasurer,  all  of  whom  shall  be 
elected  by  the  Trustees  and  shall  hold  their  re- 
spective offices  for  one  year,  and  until  their  suc- 
cessors shall  be  elected,  and  shall  enter  upon  the 
discharge  of  their  duties.  The  offices  of  secretary 
and  treasurer  may  be  held  by  the  same  person. 

Section  3.  Five  trustees  shall  constitute  a 
quorum  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and,  at  all 
meetings  of  the  corporation,  thirteen  members 


APPENDIX  259 

shall  constitute  a  quorum  for  the  transaction  of 
business. 

ARTICLE  V 

The  directors  of  this  corporation  may,  from 
time  to  time,  make  such  rules,  regulations  and 
by-laws,  not  inconsistent  herewith,  nor  contrary 
to  law,  as  may  be  deemed  necessary  or  expedient 
for  the  management  of  its  affairs,  and  to  carry 
out  effectually  the  purpose  of  this  organization. 

In  witness  whereof,  we  have  hereunto  set  our 
hands  and  seals  this  3ist  day  of  January,  A.D. 
1883. 

Here  follow  names  of  twenty-five  incorporators 
and  acknowledgment  of  their  signatures. 


260  APPENDIX 

BY-LAWS 

OF  THE 

MINNEAPOLIS  SOCIETY  OF  FINE  ARTS 


ARTICLE  I 
OFFICERS 

Section  i.  The  President  and  Vice-President 
shall  be  elected  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  from 
among  their  own  number.  The  Secretary  and 
Treasurer  shall  be  elected  by  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees, but  need  not  be  members  of  the  Board. 

Each  of  such  officers  shall  hold  office  for  one 
( I )  year  from  November  first  to  November  first 
and  until  his  successor  shall  be  elected  and  shall 
assume  his  office. 

In  case  of  the  death,  resignation,  removal  or 
refusal  to  serve  of  any  officer,  the  Trustees  shall 
have  power  to  fill  the  vacancy  so  created. 

Section  2.  The  President  shall  preside  at  all 
meetings  of  the  corporation  or  Trustees  and  shall, 
from  time  to  time,  bring  to  their  attention  such 
subjects  as  in  his  opinion  require  action  or  are 
worthy  of  consideration.  He  shall  execute  all 
contracts  and  instruments  on  behalf  of  the  cor- 
poration. 


APPENDIX  261 

Section  3.  In  case  of  death,  absence,  resigna- 
tion or  disability  of  the  President,  the  senior 
Vice-President  in  point  of  service  shall  perform 
the  duties  of  the  President. 

Section  4.  The  Secretary  shall  have  charge  of 
the  books,  records  and  archives  of  the  Society, 
except  such  as  are  specifically  placed  in  the  control 
of  any  other  officer;  he  shall  cause  notices  to  be 
issued  of  all  meetings  of  the  corporation,  of  the 
Trustees  and  of  the  executive  committee,  and  shall 
keep  a  record  of  the  proceedings  of  all  such  meet- 
ings. He  shall  sign  all  contracts  and  other  instru- 
ments on  behalf  of  the  corporation;  he  shall  have 
the  custody  of  the  seal  of  the  Society  and  affix 
the  same  when  authorized  so  to  do  by  the  Presi- 
dent, by  the  Executive  Committee  or  by  the 
finance  committee,  and  shall  perform  such  other 
duties  as  usually  pertain  to  his  office. 

Section  5.  The  Treasurer  shall  receive  and 
disburse  the  funds  of  the  corporation  under  the 
direction  of  the  Trustees  or  of  the  Executive 
Committee;  he  shall  keep  a  true  and  accurate 
account  of  the  finances  of  the  corporation  in  books 
belonging  to  it,  which  shall  be  in  his  custody  and 
shall  at  all  times  be  open  to  the  inspection  of  the 
Trustees;  he  shall  report  the  financial  condition 
of  the  corporation  quarterly,  and  shall  perform 
such  other  duties  as  usually  pertain  to  his  office. 


262  APPENDIX 

Section  6.  Any  Benefactor  of  the  Society 
whose  gifts  or  services  merit  the  distinction,  may 
be  elected  by  the  Trustees  an  Honorary  President 
for  life. 

Section  7.  The  Trustees  may  provide  for  the 
election  or  appointment  of  such  other  officers  as 
may  from  time  to  time  be  deemed  advisable. 

ARTICLE  II 
TRUSTEES 

Section  i.  If  any  trustee  shall  be  absent  from 
three  (3)  consecutive  regular  meetings,  unless 
such  absence  be  due  to  sickness,  absence  from  the 
county,  or  other  reason  which  shall  be  declared 
a  sufficient  excuse  by  the  Board  of  Trustees,  by 
a  resolution  entered  in  its  records,  he  shall  be 
considered  as  having  resigned  his  office  and  the 
Secretary  shall  notify  the  Trustees  thereof. 

Section  2.  In  case  of  any  vacancy  in  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  by  death,  resignation,  or  failure  to 
attend  the  meetings,  the  remaining  Trustees  shall 
have  power  to  fill  the  same,  by  an  election  at 
any  regular  or  special  meeting,  for  the  unexpired 
term;  but  no  such  election  shall  be  made  except 
from  nominations  in  writing  filed  with  the  Secre- 
tary at  least  ten  (10)  days  prior  to  the  meeting 
at  which  the  election  occurs. 


APPENDIX  263 

ARTICLE  III 

MEETINGS 

Section  i.  The  annual  meeting  of  the  Society 
shall  be  held  on  the  second  Wednesday  in  October, 
or  upon  any  date  thereafter  to  which  said  annual 
meeting  may  be  adjourned.  At  such  meeting  a 
report  shall  be  presented  by  the  Trustees  of  their 
transactions  during  the  preceding  year  and  of  the 
general  condition  of  the  Society,  and  of  any  other 
matters  that  may  prove  of  interest  to  the  govern- 
ing members. 

Section  2.  Special  meetings  of  the  Society 
may  be  called  at  any  time  by  the  Secretary  upon 
five  (5)  days'  written  notice  to  the  governing 
members,  upon  an  order  of  the  President  or  of 
the  executive  committee,  or  upon  the  written  re- 
quest of  ten  (10)  members. 

Section  3.  At  all  meetings  of  the  Society  thir- 
teen (13)  members  shall  constitute  a  quorum. 

Section  4.  Regular  quarterly  meetings  of  the 
Trustees  shall  be  held  on  the  second  Monday 
of  December,  March,  June  and  September  in  each 
year  and  may  be  adjourned  from  time  to  time 
as  the  Trustees  shall  determine. 

Section  5.  Special  meetings  of  the  Trustees 
may  be  called  at  any  time  by  the  Secretary,  upon 


264  APPENDIX 

twenty-four  (24)  hours'  written  notice,  upon  the 
order  of  the  President  or  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee, or  the  written  request  of  three  (3)  mem- 
bers of  the  Board. 

Section  6.  At  all  meetings  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  five  (5)  members  shall  constitute  a 
quorum. 


ARTICLE  IV 

STANDING  COMMITTEES 

Section  i.     There  shall  be  five   (5)    standing 
committees  of  the  Society,  as  follows: 

1.  A  Finance  Committee  to  consist  of  three  (3) 
members    of    the    Board    of    Trustees    and    the 
Treasurer  of  the  Society  ex  officio,  of  which  com- 
mittee one  of  the  Vice-Presidents  shall  be  chair- 
man.    The  Finance  Committee  shall  have  charge 
of  the  moneys  and  securities  of  the  Society  and 
of  their  investment  and  reinvestment,   and  shall 
make  recommendations  to  the  Boards  of  Trustees 
from  time  to  time  concerning  the  financial  interests 
of  the  Society. 

2.  An  Executive  Committee  to  consist  of  five 
(5)  members  of  the  Society,  of  which  committee 
one   of   the   Vice-Presidents    shall   be    chairman. 
This  committee  shall  have  general  charge  of  the 


APPENDIX  265 

affairs  of  the  corporation  when  the  Board  is  not 
in  session,  and  shall  have  immediate  charge,  con- 
trol and  regulation  of  the  Institute  when  com- 
pleted and  in  operation. 

3.  An  Auditing  Committee  to  consist  of  three 
(3)  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  none  of 
whom  shall  belong  to  the  Executive  or  Finance 
Committee.     It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Auditing 
Committee  to  examine  the  Treasurer's  books  and 
vouchers  quarterly,  and  to  audit  his  accounts  be- 
fore they  are  presented  to  the  Trustees,  and  also 
to  examine  and  certify  his  annual  statement  before 
it  is  presented  to  the  Society;  it  shall  also,  at  least 
annually,   and  oftener   if   deemed   necessary,    ex- 
amine the  securities  of  the  permanent  funds  of 
the  Society  and  report  thereon  to  the  Trustees, 
employing  for  any  of  the  foregoing  reports  such 
professional  accountants  or  assistance  as  may  be 
deemed  necessary. 

4.  A  Committee  on  Acquisitions  to  consist  of 
five    (5)   members,  one  or  more  of  whom  may, 
in  the  discretion  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  be 
expert,   and  may  be  non-resident  in  the  city  of 
Minneapolis  or  State  of  Minnesota.     One  of  the 
Vice-Presidents   shall  be  chairman  of  this   com- 
mittee.    All  objects  of  art  proposed  to  be  given 
to,  or  purchased  by,  the  Society,  shall  be  submitted 
to,  and  examined  by,  this  committee,  and  no  object 


266  APPENDIX 

shall  be  purchased  or  accepted  on  behalf  of  the 
Society  unless  it  shall  be  approved  by  at  least 
four  members  of  the  committee,  or  approved  by 
an  expert  specifically  authorized  by  the  Board. 

5.  A  School  Committee  to  consist  of  not  less 
than  five  (5)  nor  more  than  nine  (9)  members, 
of  whom  two  (2)  at  least  shall  be  Trustees  and 
the  others  may  be  selected  from  members  of  the 
Society  outside  of  the  Board.  It  shall  be  the  duty 
of  this  committee  to  supervise  and  direct  the  con- 
duct of  the  School  of  Art  maintained  by  the  So- 
ciety and  to  recommend  to  the  Board  of  Trustees 
from  time  to  time  the  appropriations  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  school  and  the  persons  to  be  employed 
as  directors  or  teachers  therein. 

Section  2.  An  Exhibition  Committee  to  consist 
of  five  (5)  members,  of  which  the  chairman  shall 
be  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  may,  in 
the  discretion  of  the  Board,  and  upon  its  resolu- 
tion, be  appointed.  This  committee,  if  constituted 
at  any  time,  shall  assist  the  director  or  acting 
director  of  the  Institute,  as  he  may  desire,  in 
planning  for,  and  arranging  exhibits,  or  in  ar- 
ranging courses  of  lectures  or  other  entertain- 
ments to  be  given  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Society. 

Section  3.  Each  of  the  foregoing  committees 
shall  report  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  whenever 


APPENDIX  267 

requested  so  to  do  and  may  report  at  any  meeting 
of  the  Trustees,  regular  or  special. 

Section  4.  No  committee  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  or  any  officer  or  agent  of  the  Society, 
shall  incur  any  expense,  liability  or  indebtedness 
for  the  Society  except  in  pursuance  of  prior  ap- 
propriations therefor,  or  of  a  vote  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  at  a  regular  or  special  meeting. 

Section  5.  All  committees  shall  be  appointed  by 
the  President  as  soon  after  the  first  day  of  Novem- 
ber in  each  year  as  convenient  and  committees  so 
appointed  shall  continue  in  office  until  their  suc- 
cessors shall  be  named  and  shall  assume  their 
duties.  All  vacancies  occurring  in  the  committees 
shall  be  filled  by  the  President,  for  the  unexpired 
term. 

Section  6.  The  Trustees  may  provide  for  the 
appointment  of  such  other  committees  as  may, 
from  time  to  time,  be  deemed  advisable. 

Section  7.  The  President  shall  be,  ex  officio, 
a  member  of  every  standing  committee. 

ARTICLE  V 

ANNUAL  MEMBERS 

There  is  hereby  constituted  a  class  to  be  known 
as  Annual  Members.  Any  person  who  shall  con- 
tribute to  the  Society  the  sum  of  ten  dollars 


268  APPENDIX 

($10),  may  become  an  annual  member  and  shall, 
with  members  of  his  or  her  family  and  non- 
resident guests,  be  entitled  at  all  times  to  free 
admission  to  all  lectures  and  other  entertainments 
given  by  the  Society,  to  all  temporary  exhibitions 
held  under  the  auspices  of  the  Society,  and  to  all 
permanent  exhibitions  of  the  Society  in  the  rooms 
or  buildings  occupied  by  it  from  time  to  time. 

The  dues  of  annual  members  shall  become  pay- 
able on  the  first  day  of  November  in  each  year, 
and  the  name  of  any  annual  member  whose  dues 
shall  not  be  paid  by  the  first  day  of  January  next 
following,  shall  be  stricken  from  the  rolls  and 
the  membership  rights  shall  be  withdrawn. 

ARTICLE  VI 

CERTIFICATES  OF  MEMBERSHIP 

The  Trustees  shall  cause  to  be  provided  suit- 
able certificates  of  membership  for  the  various 
classes  of  members  of  the  Society.  One  of  such 
certificates,  signed  by  the  President  and  counter- 
signed by  the  Secretary,  shall  be  delivered  to  each 
member  of  the  Society,  according  to  his  class. 


APPENDIX  269 

NOTES 

The  custom  of  beginning  the  fiscal  and  business 
year  on  October  first,  which  comes  about  from  the 
fact  that  the  school  year  begins  at  that  time,  is 
often  impracticable.  Whatever  the  date  chosen, 
some  branch  of  a  large  work  will  be  inconven- 
ienced thereby,  but  the  beginning  of  the  calendar 
year  is  usually  preferable  to  any  other  time,  on 
account  of  the  system  of  numbering  accessions 
which  is  in  use  in  most  museums. 

Memberships  should  begin  whenever  the  money 
is  paid  and  expire  at  the  end  of  the  period  paid 
for,  otherwise  a  member  who  might  join  March 
ist  will  wait  till  November  and  the  Society  will 
lose  six  months'  use  of  the  money. 

Where  an  accessions  committee  is  given  abso- 
lute power,  as  here,  the  director  is  saved  much 
responsibility  and  odium  in  accepting  or  rejecting 
works  of  art.  At  the  same  time,  if  the  director 
is  a  competent  person,  the  committee  may  vote 
him  sums  of  money  to  be  spent  at  his  discretion 
whenever  occasion  arises,  as  on  a  trip  to  Europe 
or  New  York. 


MUSEUMS  VISITED 

ENGLAND 

The  dates  are  of  the  last  visit. 

Liverpool,  1913 Walker  Art  Gallery 

Free  Public  Library  and  Museum 

London,  1913 British  Museum 

British  Museum  New  Wing 
National  Gallery 
Victoria  and  Albert 
National  Portrait  Gallery 
Tate  Gallery 
Wallace  Collection 
Burlington  House 

Oxford,  1913 Ashmolean  Museum 

FRANCE 

Chantilly,  1908 Chateau 

Orleans,  1908 Musee 

Paris,  1914 Louvre 

1914 Luxembourg 

1914 Trocadero 

1913 Gobelins 

1914 Cluny 

271 


272  APPENDIX 

FRANCE— Continued 

Paris,  1914 Petit  Palais 

1908 Musee  d'Artillerie  et  de  1'Armee 

1914 , . . .  .Musee  des  Arts  Decora tifs 

1914 Musee  Jacquemart-Andre 

1914 Sevres 

1913 Musee  Carnavalet 

1913 Guimet 

1908 Maison  Victor  Hugo 

1914 St.  Germain  en  Laye 

1914 Maisons  Lafitte 

Rouen,  1908 Musee  bibliotheque 

Tours,  1908 Musee 

Versailles,  1913 Musee  National 

GERMANY 

Aix  la  Chapelle,  1911 Suermondt  Museum 

Berlin,  1914 Kaiser  Friedrich  Museum 

1912 Zeug  Haus 

1914 Kunstgewerbe  Museum 

1912 Ethnographical 

1912 Museum  of  Costumes 

1912 Markisches 

1914 Altes  Museum 

1914 Neues  Museum 

1912 Hohenzollern 

1914 National  Gallerie 


APPENDIX  273 

GERMANY— Continued 

Darmstadt,  1912 Art  Museum 

Kunstgewerbe 

Dresden,  1912 Gemalde  Gallerie 

Zoological  and   Ethnographical 

Museum 

Historical  Museum 
Grime  Gewolbe 
Albertinum 

Frankfurt  a/M,  1912 Liebig  Haus 

Stadel 

Kunstgewerbe 

Kunstverein 

Historical 

Goethehaus 

Hamburg,  1914 Kunsthalle 

Ethnographical 

Kunstgewerbe 

Historical 

Leipzig,  1912 Kunstgewerbe 

Kunsthalle 

Munich,  1914 Neue  Pinakothek 

1914 Alte  Pinakothek 

1912 Schack  Gallerie 

1914 Glas  Palast 

1912 Glyptothek 

1914 National  Museum 


274  APPENDIX 

GERMANY— Continued 

Munich,  1914 Deutsches  Museum 

1912 Museum  of  Casts 

Nuremberg,  1914 National  Museum 

Weimar,  1912 Kunstmuseum 

Goethehaus 


ITALY 

Aquila,  1912 Palazzo  Dragonetti 

Palazzo  Persichetti 

Arezzo,  1914 Museum 

Bari,  1912 Provincial  Museum 

Bergamo,  1912 Accademia  Carrara 

Bologna,  1912 Pinacoteca  Accademia  di  Belle  Arti 

Museo  Civico 

Museo  di  San  Petronio 
Brescia,  1912 Roman  Museum 

Mediaeval  Museum 

Martinenghi  Collection 
Ferrara,  1912 Pinacoteca  del  Ateneo 

Museo  Palazzo  Schifanoia 
Florence,  1913 Archaeological  Museum 

Galleria  degli  Arazzi 

Casa  Buonarotti 

Galleria  Antica  e  Moderna 

Galleria  Corsini 


APPENDIX  275 

ITALY— Continued 
Florence,  1913 Galleria  Pitti 

Galleria  degli  Uffizi 

Museo  di  San  Marco 

Museo  di  Sta.  Maria  del  Fiore 

Museo  Nazionale 

Palazzo  Vecchio 
Lecce  Pugliese,  1912..  .  .Museo  Municipale 

Mantua,  1912 Archaeological  Museum 

Milan,  1912 Brera 

Ambrosiana 

Poldi  Pezzoli 

Sforzesco 

Museo  Borromeo 
Naples,  1912 National  Museum 

San  Martino 
Padua,  1912 Museo  Antoniana 

Museo  Civico 
Parma,  1912 Museo  Reale  d'Antichita 

Reale  Galleria 

Accademia  di  Belle  Arti 
Perugia,  1914. .  Pinacoteca  Vannucci 

Pesaro,  1914 Museo  Oliveriano 

Piacenza,  1912 Museo  Civico 

Pisa,  1912 Museo  Civico 

Ravenna,  1912 Pinacoteca 

Rimini,  1914 Picture  Gallery 


276  APPENDIX 

ITALY—  Continued 

Rome,  1914 Vatican  Picture  Gallery,  Sculpture 

Gallery,  Egyptian  Gallery 

Conservator! 

Campidoglio 

Terme 

Casino  Borghese 

Corsini  Gallery 

Galleria  d'Arte  Moderna 

Museo  Artistico  Industriale 

Accademia  di  San  Luca 

Barberini  Gallery 

Rospigliosi-Pallavicini 

Museo  Barracco 

Colonna  Gallery 

Doria-Pamphili  Gallery 

Spada  Gallery 

Museo  Kircheriano 

Lateran 

Villa  Papa  Giulio 

Villa  Albani 

San  Sepolcro,  1914 Picture  Gallery 

Siena,  1912 Cathedral  Museum 

Accademia  di  Belle  Arti 

Sulmona,  1912 Museo  Civico 

Taranto,  1912 Museum 

Turin,  1913 Accademia  delle  Scienze 


APPENDIX  277 

ITALY—  Continued 
Turin,  1913 Armeria  Reale 

Museo  Civico 

Urbino,  1914 Palazzo  Ducale 

Verona,  1912 Museo  Civico 

Venice,  1914 Museo  Correr 

Galleria  d'Arte  Moderna 

Accademia 

Museo  del  Palazzo  Ducale 

Vicenza,  1912 Museo 

Viterbo,  1912 Museo  Municipale 

DENMARK 

Copenhagen,  1914 Danish  Folks  Museum 

Art  Museum 
Glyptothek 

Industrial  Art  Museum 
National  Museum 
Thorvaldsen  Museum 


SWEDEN 

Stockholm,  1914 National  Museum 

Northern  Museum 
Skansen 

Malmo,  1914 Baltic  Exposition,  1914 


278  APPENDIX 

SWITZERLAND 

Basle,  1912 Picture  Gallery 

Historical  Museum 
Zurich,  1912 Landesmuseum 

UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 

Cal.:  Los  Angeles,  1915.  .Southwest  Museum 

Science  and  Art  Museum 

Oakland,  1915 Public  Museum 

Piedmont  Art  Gallery 

Palo  Alto,  1915.  .  .  .Leland  Stanford  Jr.  Museum 
San  Francisco,  i9i5.Academy  of  Sciences 

Panama- Pacific  Exhibition  of  Fine 

Arts 

Memorial  Museum 
Institute  of  Art 
Anthropological  Museum 
Mrs.    A.    B.    Spreckles'    Collec- 
tion 

Colo.:   Denver,  1915 Colorado  Museum  of  Natural  His- 
tory 

111.:     Chicago,  1916 Art  Institute 

Field  Museum 
Md.:     Baltimore,  1916.  .  .Walters  Gallery 

Peabody  Institute 
Maryland  Institute 
Mass.:    Boston,  1916 Museum  of  Fine  Arts 


APPENDIX  279 

UNITED  STATES— Continued 

Mass.:     Boston,  1916 Children's  Museum 

Mrs.  Gardner's  Collection 
Fitzgerald  Gallery 

Cambridge,  1916.  Fogg  Art  Museum 
Peabody  Museum 

Mass.:    Salem,  1916 Essex  Institute 

Peabody  Museum 

Wellesley,  1916..  .Farnsworth  Museum 
Worcester,  1916.  .Art  Museum 
Minn.:  Minneapolis,  1916.  Walker  Art  Gallery 
Institute  of  Arts 
Academy  of  Sciences 

N.  J.:   Newark,  1914 Museum 

N.  Y.:    Brooklyn,  1915. .  .Museum  of  the  Brooklyn  Institute 

of  Arts  and  Sciences 
Children's  Museum 
Buffalo,  1915.  .  .  .Albright  Art  Gallery 

Historical  Museum 

N.  Y.  City,  1916. Metropolitan  Museum 
Hispanic  Museum 
Public  Library 
G.  C.  Barnard  Cloisters 
Cooper  Union 

Rochester,  1915 .  .Memorial  Art  Gallery 
Ohio:    Cleveland,  1915 . .  .Art  Museum 

Toledo,  1915 Museum  of  Art 


280  APPENDIX 

UNITED  STATES— Continued 

Penn.:  Philadelphia,  1916. Pennsylvania  Academy 
Pennsylvania  Museum 
The  Philadelphia  Museums 
The  Johnson  Collection 
The  Widener  Collection 
The  Elkins  Collection 
The  University  Museum 
Pittsburgh,  1915..  .Carnegie  Institute 

R.  L:    Providence,  1916 .  .  Rhode  Island  School  of  Design 

Annmary  Brown   Memorial   Mu- 
seum 

Utah:  Salt  Lake  City,  i9i5.Deseret  Museum 

Wis.:    Milwaukee,  1915 . .  Public  Museum 
Art  Society 

D. C:  Washington,  1916.. Corcoran  Gallery 
Pan-American 
U.  S.  National  Museum 
Smithsonian 


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